Thunderbirds Are Go!: The Next Generation
by Raina McCallen
Summary: *COMPLETED* After the Thunderbirds are lost during a mission, the world must go on without them ... but no one knows what could happen in the future ...
1. Chapter 1

Thunderbirds Are Go! The Next Generation

By Raina McCallen

It was the sort of news that had stunned the world into silence, brought everyone to a complete standstill, and left people reeling in shock and disbelief. It was something no one expected to hear, and something that would send shockwaves through every country in the world. International Rescue, also known as the Thunderbirds, an organization that had saved thousands in the few short years that they had been in business, was no more. They had been lost during a mission to protect innocent people, as had been their way for as long as people could remember. And now they were gone.

The sad news had been broken to the world's press in a statement given by one of its top agents. For those that had been there for the press conference, they would never forget the look of pain on the young woman's face as she had made her statement, the tears that filled her eyes and slipped down her cheeks as she spoke of the loss of five of the bravest, most heroic men she had ever had the pleasure of knowing, and how she and the world would miss them.

That was especially true for one young man watching the press conference, tears streaming down his cheeks with no sign of stopping, the pain almost robbing him of the ability to breathe. It was one of the hardest things he had ever had to watch. It was something that reminded him that his father and brothers were gone. Not that he needed something like that to remind him; the deathly stillness of the house and island were clue enough. He would never again hear Gordon's laughter as another one of his brothers fell to the mercy of the prankster brother, or hear the sound of his brother's voices raised in mirth as they got Gordon back. He would have given anything to have his family back, or to have been with them and suffered the same fate as them, but it seemed that the fates were not that kind, and so he was the last Tracy.

He had always thought that his family was untouchable; that they could make it through anything, and they would be stronger, but he could see now that that was not the case. They had been taken by a simple mission that was supposed to be a breeze, leaving him alone by himself, the last son of a powerful famous man; a powerful famous family. He was along now. He was the last one. The last… the tears flowed harder and he dropped his head into his hands as the pain began to engulf him.

Not for the first time, he cursed rather loudly the cast that encased his left leg. He had fallen and broken his leg the week before on Thunderbird Five, and his family had forbidden him from taking any role in International Rescue, his only job to get better, his father had told him with a stern face, though John could see the worry in the older man's face, hence why his father and brothers had been on that mission, and he had been left at home. But he would have given anything to have them home once more. He could still hear them that last morning before the alarm had gone off as they had been sitting down to breakfast together. In his memories, he could see the gleeful look on his younger brother Gordon's face as he had teased him.

"_I'm telling you Johnny, we're gonna have to put hand rails up there for you. I mean, how could you have tripped over your c__hair?" The disbelief was plain on Gordon's face, but John knew that the teasing from it would last for months. If there was one thing about his copper-headed brother, it was that he never turned his back on good material to get his brother's with, and heaven knew that Gordon had enough material on each of his brothers to last him for years, not to mention all the new material he seemed to get daily. He couldn't help but grin as he locked eyes with Alan, the grin splitting the Sprout's face almost as big as the one on Gordon's was, and John cursed silently to himself. Now he knew he was in for it. With Gordon and Alan working together, he was sure to hear about this for a good long while._

"_Yeah, Johnny, are you getting feeble in your old age?" Alan had quipped in as well, knowing that his older brother couldn't get to him from the other side of the table. But it seemed that he had forgotten about the fact that one of his other brothers could. John watched as Virgil swatted Alan upside the head with a grin. John locked eyes with Virgil, and he knew that his younger brother would be able to read the thanks in his eyes. He saw a hint of a grin cross Virgil's gaze before he nodded, returning to his breakfast._

"_Okay that's enough boys." Their father said as he watched them, his face impassive. But John could see the hint of a grin that Jeff Tracy was trying to hide as he watched the antics of his two youngest boys. If nothing else, Alan and Gordon were always guaranteed to give a person a laugh, and in their father's case, a few grey hairs in the process. But he knew that Jeff Tracy loved his sons more than his own life, and it was something he would gladly tolerate, to a certain point. John knew that he could not allow Gordon to think that he had THAT much leniency to push his pranks too far. He heard Gordon mumble something under his breath that sounded like 'Party Pooper' and John had to bite his bottom lip to keep from bursting out into laughter. That would have definitely been the wrong thing to do at the time._

_He lowered his head to try and hide the grin that he knew was still there as he tried to finish his breakfast. He looked across the table at Scott, and saw that older brother was also trying to hide a grin. __It got harder to hide the grin as the two oldest brothers locked gazes over the table, and John could see the amusement dancing in Scott's eyes. Oh yes, times were good._

Coming out of his memory, his gaze returned back at the screen, at the live feed of Lady Penelope whom he could see was trying so hard as to not break down in the middle of the press conference as she made her announcement. He could see the faint tracks that escaping tears were making down her cheeks, but somehow she held it all together. He did not know how she was able to do it. He knew that if he had been there, he would have not been able to get a single word out.

As he thought it, another tear slipped down his cheek and landed on the dark cotton of his t-shirt. His bloodshot bright blue tear-filled eyes studied the look on her face, seeing the silent determination on her face to keep it together long enough to say what she needed to say. Afterwards, he knew that Parker would be there to hold her as she wept, just as he was doing now.

As if she could sense what he was thinking to himself, Penny looked up directly into the camera and took a deep breath. That simple motion from her caused John to grip the arm of his chair until his knuckles were white and he lost feeling in his fingers. He knew what was coming next. It was one of the last things they had discussed before she had left the island to travel to the mainland to hold the press conference in London. They had been sitting at the desk in his father's office going over the statement for her to read, deciding exactly what they wanted it to say.

"_I have one last idea for my statement, John." She told him, her voice quiet and somber as she motioned to the paper that lay between them, both of their distinct handwriting styles covering the paper. She turned her face to look at him. "What do you think of the idea of telling the public who … was … International Rescue?" She had asked him and he looked up at her from where his gaze had been fixed on the paper between them, but not really reading it._

_He had noticed how she had taken that pause, as if telling herself that she had to say it__, to remind herself of the correct words to use. He studied her for a few moments and then truly thought about it. Immediately he wanted to say no, as had always been their way, but he instead made himself really stop and think about it. _

_From the moment that Jeff Tracy __had come to his three eldest sons, each in their own careers of the Air Force, NASA, and college, telling them of the thoughts he had come up with, the idea of International Rescue and the Thunderbirds and what they would stand for and do for the world, they had always agreed to keep their identities a secret to keep them out of the limelight more than they already were. His father's opinion that if people knew who they were, they would never get any peace or privacy. Everyone would want a piece of them; want them to do something for them. _

_And what had really factored into his father's opinion was the fact had it been known who they were, all of them, including Alan would be pulled into the spotlight, and with Alan have been in school, that was not something that Jeff wanted to expose his youngest son to__. Now that it was gone, the Thunderbirds now being permanently offline, was it right to tell the world who the famed Thunderbirds had been?_

"_I don't know Penny." He said finally. "Dad always said that no one could know besides our informants, and I have always lived up to that." But the more he thought about it, the more it just seemed right, that the world should know who they were, to truly morn the end of a family that had done so much for the world, and had never asked for anything in return. He finally nodded. "Do it."_

"During the entire five years of the existence of International Rescue, the identities of those brave souls who have risked their lives to save others, complete strangers, has always been a mystery, save for a select lucky few who had been trusted with that great secret. However now, after this great tragedy, it seems that the secret no longer needs to be kept. After speaking with the last remaining member of the Thunderbirds, we have decided that it is time for the world to know who they were, to know the selfless acts of courage they faced on a day to day basis to keep the world safe, asking nothing for themselves from it. All we ask is that these five men never be forgotten." Another tear slipped down her cheek, and she did nothing to stop it. "Rest in peace my friends. I will miss you dearly. I love you all." She said softly. "To the fallen members of International Rescue: Jefferson Grant Tracy, Scott Carpenter Tracy…" A loud murmuring started building in the room as people recognized the names that were being spoken. "Virgil Grissom Tracy, Gordon Cooper Tracy and Alan Shepard Tracy. And to the remaining member of this amazing family still alive, John Glenn Tracy."

John shut the TV off with a vicious jerk of the remote as reporters started to leap off their seats to get Lady P's attention as Parker followed her from the room where he had been standing in the corner of the room out of the way of the reporters. Letting the remote clatter onto the desk in front of him, he dropped his head into his hands and let the pain and tears engulf him.

For the first couple of weeks after the press conference, it was safe to say that nothing much happened on Tracy Island. In fact, it was pretty much a ghost house. Despite the fact that John was now in charge of everything, he could find no will to do much of anything. He would either sit in his father's office, staring out at the ocean, or he would be down in the silo's, taking in the remaining Thunderbirds, hearing the echoes of his family in the great hollow cavern.

In the back of his mind, he knew there were other people in the house that were hurting almost as much as he was, but he could not convince himself to be able to reach out to them, to comfort them as he knew they probably needed. All he could think about was how his brothers and his father were gone, and he was all alone. He wished he could just go up to Thunderbird Five and pretend none of this had happened, that this was all just a bad dream, and he'd wake up from it, and everything would be back to normal. But finally, after being reminded by Tin-Tin that he could not just allow himself to wallow in his grief, but do what needed to be done, he finally snapped out of it.

_She had found him three weeks after the press conference sitting down in the empty silo to Thunderbird Three sitting on the metal grating that had once surrounded the great bird, his legs dangling into the empty space. Sitting in the monstrous cavern all by himself, it amazed him again just how big that Bird was – had been. The silos was the place on the island that he felt the most connected to his family, it having been the last place they had been. He hadn't heard her approach until he felt her standing right next to him._

"_Tin-Tin?" He said after a moment. She nodded and sat down next to him on the walkway. "What's up?" He asked, and winced at how stupid that sounded._

"_How long are you going to keep doing this, John?" She asked him, getting right to the point._

"_Do what?" He asked her._

"_Act like you are the only person that lost someone they loved." She replied, a bit of a bite in her tone. John winced at that as he looked down at his mother's engagement ring adorning Tin-Tin's left ring finger. A few months earlier, Alan had finally gotten his act together and asked Tin-Tin to marry him just after his birthday. He could remember just how nervous his littlest brother had been leading up to the proposal, but as John had told him, he knew she would say yes. He could still hear Alan the day he had told John what he wanted to do. _

_He had at first thought that his little brother was too young to be getting engaged. He was only 18 years old. But the more he thought about it, the more he just knew it was right. The Sprout had grown up very quickly years before, after the incident with The Hood, and he and Tin-Tin had basically been dating for the past three years, and the whole family loved her and trusted her. It could not have been more perfect._

"_Are you sure, Johnny?" Nervousness and doubt clouded Alan's voice, making him sound younger than he actually was. "Are you sure she will say yes?" John smiled and messed Alan's hair._

"_Of course I'm sure, Sprout. Why wouldn't she say yes?" John reached out and set his hand on his brother's shoulder. "You love her, Alan. And I know Tin-Tin loves you. Dad would not have given you moms' old engagement ring if he did not believe in this as well."_

_And finally, that seemed to be the one thing he needed as a giant grin broke over Alan, lighting up his whole face. "Thanks Johnny!" He hugged his older brother briefly before running off to wherever, and John watched him go, a smile on his face. He had been there later on that night to congratulate Alan when he and Tin-Tin had appeared later, his mother's engagement ring around her slim finger_

_John sighed and looked back at the Malaysian girl. He could see the pain and hurt in her eyes that he was sure ran a close second to his, and he finally realized that she was hurting as well, but he had been too caught up in his own pain to see anyone else's. Well that, he decided, was going to stop now. He turned more to face her, and pulled her into his arms. It was moments later that he heard the sound of her crying into his shoulder, and he wished that he could take her pain away._

"_I'm sorry Tin-Tin." He said softly. "I should have stopped to see other people's pain, but I was so wrapped up in my own. Please forgive me." He felt her nod after a moment and her arms snake around his waist to hug him back._

But that was in the past and unfortunately, that was not how life was going to be now. There were duties and responsibilities that were up to him to take charge of now. He had to make sure that everything was taken care of the way they were supposed to be. And the first order of business was Tracy Enterprises. Since Lady Penelope had given out their names at the press conference, it was not like he could travel to the office to take care of business. If he could help it, he never traveled to the mainland anymore.

After making the mistake of doing it once and being bombarded by reporters and other people looking for a chance in the limelight before he made it to the front door of Tracy Enterprises, he made a decision to never travel again. Anything that needed to get done, he could do from home, and he would never have to be bothered by reporters or someone wanting to take his picture again. As it was, no one knew where the island was, so no one could bother him there. Of course, this wasn't the biggest thing to happen to him as he started to try and put his life back together after losing his family. The biggest change to his life came the day that Lady Penelope told him that she was pregnant with his brother or sister.

John had been floored, as he hadn't known that his father and Penny had been involved in that sort of a relationship. He was sad that his father would never get to meet his child, but later that night as John stood on the balcony outside his room looking out over the pool and beyond it, the Pacific Ocean, he made a silent vow to himself that his brother or sister would know everything about their dad. They would know of the man who had sired him or her, and they would know of the amazing things that their family had done.

And so it was. One day became two, two became three, three became four and so on until before John knew it, a month had passed since he had lost his family. He slowly started to become used to the life he was now starting to live. As the last surviving Tracy, he took the reins of Tracy Enterprises and vowed to keep it on top in memory of his father who had worked so hard to build it to what it was now in the early days after the death of John's mother, Lucille. It was now his duty to keep the family name and strength intact. He was a source of strength for Tin-Tin and her family, and for Fermat and Brains as well. It seemed that now he was the pillar of strength, no matter how much he was hurting at the time. He did not have the time to be selfish in his pain. Too many people were depending on him. But over time, he came to realize that the more he shared his grief with those he cared about, it got a little bit easier to tolerate. Yes, it still hurt, and John had a feeling it would never stop hurting, but for right now, he could function with it and not allow it to overwhelm him.

At the same time, during all of John's pain, he had found someone he could lean on. His girlfriend Sarah Robinson became his strength, and he thanked her day after day for being in his life. He had known her since the days of his career in NASA. If there was one person that he could trust with his secrets, Sarah was that one person. Right after he had lost his family, she had come to Tracy Island and had taken him into her arms and told him that everything would work out, and that she was there for him. It made his love for her grow larger and larger. He honestly did not know how he would be able to live without her and her love. It was one of the main things keeping him going. Of course, when she got pregnant with their children, he knew that a new chapter of his life was starting.

After John and Sarah were married and babies started being born on Tracy Island, John found a new purpose in life once again. His life was going to be dedicated to the safety of those six babies who had been brought into the world. He now understood why his own father had acted the way he had so many years ago when he and his brothers had been such young children, and he respected the memory of Jefferson Tracy that much more. He had never realized growing up just what a battle that his father had had on his hands when it came to raising John and his brothers. Well, most of them had not been a problem to raise. It had not been trouble until little Gordon had come into the picture. John had only been small himself, but he remembered the birth of each of his brothers after him. He could remember seeing Gordon for the first time in the hospital, and wondered what the redheaded bundle was. That thought made John smile a little to himself.

Of course, while the next generation of Tracy's were still small, John had no idea the turn that his life would take once more. How due to the strength and determination of his newest brothers and sisters, as well as his own children, something thought long dead would be brought back to life after a long hibernation. John would once again have the choice that he had been given so long ago; to risk his life to save strangers that he would never meet. How they would be inspired by stories of rescues told to them at bedtime about the amazing Thunderbirds would inspire them to take the risk that their family had taken on before them. Oh yes, it would always seem that the draw of The Thunderbirds and International Rescue was strong in Tracy blood, no matter what the age.


	2. Chapter 2

~Twenty Five Years Later~

"Come on, Thunderbird Two, pick up the slack!" The strident voice over the speakers had John grinning to himself as he listened in. Man, Lily was in a mood today. Of course, her being the Leader, she had to be when situations called for it. When it came to being on rescues, she seemed to channel her eldest brother Scott so easily. If he were to close his eyes, he would almost swear that he could hear Scott in her.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Lils, I'm coming. Keep your pants on!" Came the reply and John shook his head at his son's response. Monroe Tracy reminded him so much of his Uncle Gordon that it wasn't funny. With his son around, John didn't seem to miss his second youngest brother quite as much. It was like he had been reborn into Monroe. It had been a shock to John when his girlfriend Sarah, had told him that she was pregnant. She had been there with him during the shock of his family's disappearance, and he had leaned on her for support. He did not know how he would have been able to get through that time without her. She had kept him grounded, and kept him from losing his sanity to grief. Ten months after the disappearances, Sarah Robinson Tracy had given birth to two healthy babies; Monroe Jonathan Tracy, and Madison Sierra Tracy. They joined Aunt Lilliana Marie Tracy and Uncle Jefferson Grant Tracy II, as well as Alan Shepard Tracy Junior, and Lucy Penelope Tracy.

That had been the shock of a lifetime, when Tintin had hesitantly told him that she was pregnant with Alan's baby. Yes they were both of age, and yes they were engaged to be married, but it still was a shock to him. Alan was his baby brother, and to John, he would never be old enough for stuff like that. But he had to admit, that since he had joined International Rescue, he had grown up a lot and John had been very proud of him. He could still remember that first time when he realized that his brother was growing up before his very eyes, and it had been after the trouble they had gone through with the Hood. That was something that John knew that he would never forget. He could still remember Thunderbird Five exploding around him, not knowing what was going on, and then later, the sight of the Hood sitting so casually in their home, feeling helpless, hoping that Alan was safe. John could remember holding Tintin as she cried after telling him, crying over Alan never having a chance to see his child.

"Thunderbird One to base, John are you there?" Lily's voice brought him out of his musings, and he hit the comm. switch. "Base to Thunderbird One, I read you." Bout time, he thought he heard, but said nothing about it.

"Johnny, we are returning to base. Everything is done here on our end, now it is up to local personnel to finish the job. ETA for Thunderbird One, 36.4 minutes." He could hear the exhaustion in her voice and had a feeling that she would be seeking her bed when she got back to the island. If there was one thing that Lily Tracy liked, it was the company of her bed. In that, she was definitely a Tracy. All of his brothers had liked the company of their beds as well.

"F-A-B Thunderbird One. See you back at base. Be careful."

"F-A-B John." She said, and cut comms.

As John waited for his siblings to return from the emergency call, he thought about the events that had brought them all to this point. When his siblings had been born, he had never had any thought about International Rescue ever being brought back to life. That part of his life was dead and gone. His only concern was going to be raising his children and his siblings. But he had always told them stories of International Rescue and the Thunderbirds, and of their father and Uncles. Lily had always been fascinated by them, and she could never get enough of the stories, always wanting to hear more.

_John remembered the conversation he had had__ with Lily on hers and JT's 18__th__ birthday. The two of them had been standing on the porch looking out over the Pacific Ocean as the sun had been setting out over the water, painting the area in all sorts of colors. In earlier days, he knew that his brother Virgil would have been sitting out here painting it as quickly as he could to try and get it before it all faded into night._

"_Do you miss it?" She had asked him, playing with the end of her braid, a nervous habit that she had that usually signaled there was something serious that she wanted to talk about._

"_Miss what?" He asked her, turning to face her, the setting sun turning her skin a deep golden tan, and her blonde hair almost to brown._

"_Being a Thunderbird." She replied. "Being up there." Her voice was a low murmur, her gaze focused up at the sky._

"_Yeah, I do." He said finally after a long moment. "Being up there, amongst the stars, it was something I loved. I could study them all I wanted, and I always had the perfect view." He thought sadly on his abandoned bird up there, cold and empty for almost 19 years. The vast amount equipment housed inside, once state of the art, now greatly antiquated and out of date. "Why do you ask?"_

"_Well," She said, turning to face him. "I think you should bring International Rescue back from the dead."_

"_I don't know about that Lils." He replied after a few moments. She jumped in almost immediately as if to talk him into the idea, her body almost vibrating with excitement._

"_Well, before you make a final decision, JT and I want to do this." That much did not surprise John. Usually when there was something exciting to be done, Lily and JT wanted to do it together. They were very close to each other, being twins not even coming into the equation. "We grew up hearing your stories about the Original Thunderbirds with dad and our brothers, and what better way to live up to their memory than to continue the work that they started with International Rescue. That way, their memories will never die. We want to do this John. We already talked to Al and Luce and they want to do it too with us. Please John." She finished, turning her bright blue eyes on him, pleadingly. John groaned silently to himself. He knew he could never say no to her when she turned her big blue eyes on him. He always said yes to her when she did that, and this time was no exception. "Roe and Mads said yes as well." She told him, almost as an after thought, or icing on the cake. John sighed to himself. It seemed as if Lily already had the agreeance of all the kids, and it went to show that she had been thinking about this for a little while. He knew there was no way he was going to win._

"_What about Thun-"__ But she had a response for that as well._

"_Uncle Fermat is already working on that. He and Grandfather Brains have already pulled out the old sketches and schematics of the old Thunderbird Three, and are waiting for your word to being building. They say it shouldn't take more than a few weeks to get it built." She grinned at his raised eyebrow._

"_This is something that you really want to do, isn't Lily?" He asked her. She nodded. He studied her for a moment as the sun sank below the ocean. She truly was a Tracy in every way. He knew that his father would have been so very proud of his daughter and son if he and ever had the chance to know them. He looked up at the sky. 'Well dad, what do you think?' He silently asked and got his response a moment later when a shooting star streaked across the sky. He looked back at Lily._

"_Well, what are you waiting for? Time to get the team together. We got plans to go over." He was embraced in an enthusiastic hug before Lily went tearing into the house looking for her siblings. John took another moment to gaze up at the stars. "Thunderbirds Are Go." He said quietly._

In no time at all, it seemed like plans were in motion to get International Rescue back into action. And if John were truthful with himself, the kids had done the majority of the work, as if they wanted to prove to him exactly how dedicated they were to this. For John, it was like reliving the past when they started to bring the Thunderbirds out from the silos. There was a lot of work that had to be done to them after sitting for almost nineteen years. There had been plans of remodeling Thunderbird Two that had never come to fruition that were quickly taken care of by Fermat and Brains, as well as a complete overhaul of Thunderbird one, which Lily quickly claimed as hers, and it was on the twentieth Anniversary of the death of The Thunderbirds that the press release was sent out; International Rescue, The Thunderbirds were back in business. Rescues were very slow in the beginning, but after only a few short months, business was back in full swing. That was five years ago, and now the Thunderbirds were as strong as they had once been. He was amazed to watch his siblings do what he used to do, and was content to watch from the sidelines. He had decided this time, to not be involved. He had been involved once, and that was enough for him.

The night after the first rescue, John stood out on the patio off of the library where he had made his office, and the new Command and Control Center and stared up at the sky. He found himself doing that a lot lately, as if he could some how connect with his family from beyond the grave. As they had never been found, there had never been a public funeral. He had just had a plaque erected at Tracy Enterprises Headquarters in New York in the memory of his family whom had done so much for the world.

Going back inside, he waited for his siblings to get back from the mission, lost deep in his thoughts. Looking down at his watch, he figured he would have enough time. _I should go up and visit dad and the others._ He thought silently to himself. He had erected a marker up on the hill next to where the marker was for his mother. He went up there a lot to think, and he hadn't been up there in a few days, so now was the perfect time.

Jefferson Tracy sighed to himself as he headed back towards home. This had been one of the weirdest missions he had ever been on, and he could not wait to get home and be done and over with it finally. It was supposed to have been a simple mission. Rescue some stranded astronauts up in space near the old Hubble Telescope and return them to NASA, but as they had approached the last coordinates they had received for the astronauts, all the gauges in Thunderbird Three had flickered and gone out, and they had been hard pressed to tell where they were for a few moments. After they got everything straightened out, they had searched for the stranded NASA personnel and had found nothing. However, when they had tried to contact NASA, they had been unable to contact them. After 20 minutes of trying, Jeff made the decision to head for home and try once again to contact NASA.

As they dropped down out of the atmosphere, he smiled to himself as he saw Tracy Island in the distance. No matter how many times he left it, it always felt good to return. "Thunderbird Three to base, come in John." He called. He frowned when there was no answer. "Thunderbird Three to base. John, are you there?" when there was no answer yet again, he began to get worried. It was not like John to not answer. He locked his gaze with his oldest son for a moment and read the unease in his eyes.

"Okay boys, lets get this 'Bird home where she belongs and then we will figure out what is up with your brother. Prepare for landing." He keyed in the code to open the silo under the library and frowned when nothing happened. He keyed it in again, and when the silo did not open, he cursed under his breath. He was going to have to check the codes once they got back to the house. He did not like that he could not activate the library retraction like he needed to. He needed to find a safe place to land Thunderbird Three and get it out of the open.

"Virgil, see if you can open the hatch for Thunderbird Two." He saw his middle son's head nod once as he punched in the hatch code. They all watched with bated breath as the hatch refused to open.

"I know I punched that in right!" Virgil exclaimed as he tried to punch it in again, and the results were the same as the first time. Gordon and Alan looked at each other worriedly.

"Okay boys, apparently there must be something wrong with the codes for the silos right now. As soon as we can get this 'Bird set down, we can get back to the house and figure it out. For right now, let's see if we can get the repair silo open so we can land." The repair silo was something they had used when they had first started building the Thunderbirds before they had moved them over to their permanent homes. As Jeff punched the code in, he gave a relieved sigh as the silo doors opened, and he positioned the large craft and swiftly docked her.

As they climbed out of the ship, Jeff heard Scott begin to yell "What happened to my bird?" Jeff looked over to where Thunderbird One's silo was, and the sleek silver and blue craft was no where to be found. His eyes narrowed dangerously. Had someone gotten onto the island and stolen one of their crafts? His thoughts went back to the only other time when someone had gotten onto Tracy Island, and his stomach clenched in knots. It didn't get any better when he heard his middle son's yell of outrage that his 'Bird was gone as well. They all stopped on shock when through the doors to the silo of Thunderbird Three, they could see what looked like another ship there. What was going on here? He was going to get to the bottom of this now. He quickly made his way over to the stairs and started climbing. He could hear his boys following him up the stairs, Scott right behind him.

As he made his way into the living area, the first thing he noticed was it did not look the way that it had this morning when they had left. What was going on here? He tapped Scott on the shoulder and pointed to where his office was. They needed to get there to figure out what was going on. Scott nodded and motioned to Virgil, Gordon and Alan to follow him. In the back of his mind, Jeff wondered where John was, and hoped that his son was alright. He didn't think he would be able to live through the loss of one of his children.

He was just stepping though the door way to his office when he heard the click of a gun behind him and a cold voice speak. "Don't move. I won't hesitate to shoot." Jeff froze where he was, and his hands slowly started to come up. He hoped that Scott would stay where he was until Jeff figured out what was going on. "Now turn around." As he turned to face the direction of the voice, he heard a weird choking sound, and the sound of a gun dropping to the ground. He finally faced the person behind him and was face to face with what looked like John, but an older version of John. A John that was looking at him as if he had seen a ghost.

"Dad?" He managed out in a choked voice.

"John?" He asked. John nodded.

"What happened to you John?" He asked. "You didn't look that way when we left this morning."

John could not help the gasp that left him. "This morning dad? You guys disappeared twenty five years ago. I had NASA look for you guys for months. Finally they had to give up the search and you guys were declared dead." The pain in his voice was obvious. "I had to shut everything down."

Jeff just stared at his second born for a moment, letting the news sink in. they had been gone for twenty five years? How was that possible? He could see the pain in John's eyes as he looked at him, and he could not even begin to imagine what his life had been like.

"John, son, I'm sorry." He said, but even that felt like it couldn't even come close to apologizing. He felt Scott and the others come in, and they stared at John for a moment in disbelief before Alan went over to him and touched his arm, like he expected him to be an illusion. When his fingers pressed into John's skin, his head whipped over to look at his baby brother, and the tears escaped him. It was all too much for him to take and he broke down. After a moment, he felt the arms of his four brother's wrap around him, and he clung to them as much as he could. He could not believe after all this time, he was holding them in his arms once more. It was like a dream.

When he had composed himself, he pulled away and raised his hand to his face to wipe away the tears that had slipped down his cheeks. When he faced his father again, he was a bit more composed. "What happened to you guys dad? How is it that you guys have been gone for twenty five years, and yet you look exactly the same?"

"Because to us John," He heard Virgil say behind him. "It is still that time for us. To us, we just left here this morning." John turned to look at his younger brother, still not believing that he was actually here.

"I can't believe this." He heard himself say almost distractedly.

"Believe what Johnny?" Gordon spoke for the first time.

"That you guys are here." He turned to face Gordon now. "I used to wish so much that losing you was just a bad dream and that I'd wake up, and you would all still be here. But day after day, it was all the same. You guys were never here." He furiously wiped away at the tears beginning to roll down his cheeks. He turned to look at each member of his family, as if to tell himself that they were really there. "I missed you so much." He told them.

"John, I have a question for you." Virgil's quiet voice had him turning to face his next youngest sibling. "If things have been 'offline' as you say, for the past twenty-five years, then where the heck is Thunderbird One and Two, and what is that other ship in Thunderbird Three's silo?"

John opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted.

"Thunderbird One to base, Johnny, you read me?" Came out of the speakers startling the men standing there. Swearing under his breath, John darted over to his father's desk and quickly slapped his hand down on the hidden panel, quickly calling up Command and Control. It was not like his office, and the Command and Control that he had up there, but it would have to do. He could feel the eyes of his father and brothers watching him from where they stood, and he knew that they would have questions for him to answer.

"Yeah Lils, I'm here. What is your ETA?" He asked, slipping into his professional mode. Being in this room, it unnerved him once more seeing the pictures of his newly returned family, instead of the pictures of his younger siblings up in his office. But considering this office hadn't been used since his brothers and father had disappeared, he hadn't seen the need to change the pictures, and so they had been left as they were.

"I will be earth bound in 1.4 minutes, unless I stop somewhere to drop an annoying brat or two out of the plane." He could hear two voices raised in the background, and he felt a grin cross his face. JT and Alan, he should have known. Apparently Monroe had kicked them out of Thunderbird Two on the way home, and so Lily was stuck with them. "Thunderbird Two should be twenty minutes behind me. Or less considering the way 'Roe flies." He heard her mutter to herself. "Am I clear to land?" She followed in a normal tone of voice, and he quickly checked the radar.

"That is affirmative, Thunderbird One. See you when you get home. Meet me in the old office." He heard silence over the line for a moment. He was sure she had glanced over at her siblings.

"FAB base. Thunderbird One out." She said finally, and the comms went silent. He immediately switched his focus to the rest of the team in the air. "Base to Thunderbird Two, what is your ETA?"

"Heya there dad! Oh sorry, I mean, read you loud and clear base. Our ETA is approximately 21 minutes, give or take a couple of seconds." Monroe's voice echoed out over the speakers. "Man, I feel bad for Lily. She has dumb and dumber up there with her." John could hear a laugh echoed in his son's voice.

"Speak for yourself, 'Roe." He heard in the background. "You're as bad as they are."

"Shush Luce, don't give away all my secrets." He told her.

"Okay you two." John said with a slight chuckle. "Debrief will be in the old office." Again there was the pause, before he heard his son's voice again.

"F.A.B base. Thunderbird Two out." He closed the comms and just sat there for a moment. Finally he turned to face his family, and he noticed that his father had moved closer to him.

"John, what is going on here?" He heard his father say, and he held up one hand.

"When they get back."

Moments later, his gaze was turned towards the windows as he heard the unmistakable sound of the roar of Thunderbird One's engines as it approached the island, and he saw Scott's gaze whip around, and he could read the frantic expression on his face. John chuckled to himself.

"Don't worry Scott. She won't scratch it. She's as good a pilot as you, maybe even better." His comment might have been directed towards his brother, but his gaze was on the doorway. He only had to wait a few minutes before he could hear voices making their way towards the office.

"JT, as much as I love you dearly, the next time you pull a prank like that, I will drop you out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and let you swim home!" While he could hear a hint of humor in Lily's voice towards her brother, he knew she was serious.

"Awww, come on Lils, you have to admit it was funny." Another voice chimed in.

"Yeah, you would think it was funny Al." She told him. "You're probably the one that gave him the idea."

"I wonder why John is having us meet him in here?" Came JT's voice.

"I don't know." Lily said. "This office has been locked ever since dad and the others were lost. What would make Johnny start to use it now?"

"Well, I guess we'll find out." JT said as they approached the door.

Lily was the first one in, and John could see she had already started to get comfortable. She had pulled down the top of her uniform to uncover the blue tank top she wore underneath, the sleeves of her suit tied around her waist. She stopped in disbelief when she spotted Jeff and the others, and she shot a look towards John.

"John, what is going on? Are they..." John nodded.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** yeah, this thing again. All ownership goes to Gerry Anderson, I just pull the boys out to play with every once in a while.

To GinnyStar and Elsa Jay: Girls, I love your reviews to pieces! Thank you for sticking around and giving me words of encouragement!

Okay, in the last chapter, there was a bit of confusion as to the parentage of the kids. So here ya go in a nutshell..

Lilliana Marie (Lily) Tracy and Jefferson Grant (JT) Tracy II are the children of Jefferson Grant Tracy and Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward

Monroe Jonathan Tracy and Madison Sierra Tracy are the children of John Glenn Tracy and Sarah Robinson Tracy

And finally, Alan Shepard Tracy Jr. and Lucy Penelope Tracy are the children of Alan Shepard Tracy, and Tin-Tin Kyrano

And now, back to our story I should warn you, it's a long one!

It was true, what people said, John realized as he waited in the office for Thunderbird Two to return home. Tension really could get so thick you could cut it with a knife. He could feel all the gazes on him, waiting to explain what was going on, and truth by told, he had no idea where to begin. He couldn't wrap his head around it; much less even begin to explain it. Laying his elbows on the desk, he dropped his face into his hands, his forehead resting on his palms. He really wished he were upstairs in his office instead of down here. At least up there, he had a bar of chocolate hidden with his name on it, waiting for him. (hehehe, I just had to do it. I love the idea of John having a chocolate addiction … not my idea - all credit goes to Little Miss Bump … was reading one of her stories)

"Hey Johnny?" A voice asked.

"Hmm?" He responded, raising his head to look at Al Jr. "What's up?"

"Where's my mom?"

"Remember kiddo, she said that she was going to go to the mainland to go shopping this afternoon. She took your Uncle Fermat, Grandpa Brains, and Aunt Sarah with her." In fact, he had to admit that he was sort of thankful that Tin-Tin was gone. He did not know how she would have been able to take seeing Alan again after all the time that had passed.

"Yeah, I know." Al told him. "I was just hoping that she was back already."

"Nope, not yet, Sprout." Since his gaze was focused on Al, he missed the look that his brother Alan shot him. That had always been the nickname that the Tracy brothers had used for him. If he had been looking at Alan, he would have seen his face suddenly pale as he came to a conclusion, and how his gaze shot over to rest on Al. John ran his gaze over Lily, JT, and Al, and a smile crossed his face. "Why don't you three get a shower while we're waiting? We've still got a little while before Thunderbird Two lands and gets through the post-flight checks." Lily and JT got up right away and left the room with a murmured "FAB", but Al hesitated for a moment, looking at John."

"What is it, Al?" He got up and approached the younger boy, laying a hand on his left shoulder. Al looked over at his uncles, father, and grandfather, and then looked back up to John.

"Are they… them, Johnny? The ones that you used to tell us about when we were kids?"

John looked over at his father and brothers for a moment, and then looked back at Al. He could see the hope starting to form on the young man's face, and it struck a cord in John's heart. Al was so much more than just a nephew to him. He was like a sibling, and a child all rolled into one package. John was very protective of the younger Tracy's, and he would do anything to make sure that they were not hurt. Even if it meant protecting them from their own family. For the first time, he began to feel doubt about the return of his missing family.

"Do you want them to be?" He asked, his voice low, raising the hand lying on Al's shoulder to push a lock of hair out of the young man's face, a soft expression on his face.

Al nodded. "Cause then maybe mom wouldn't be quite as sad all the time. She tries to hide it, but I can tell." His gaze moved over to where the older Tracy's had settled onto the orange couch in the corner of the room, and paused on Alan, before turning back to look at John.

"Yeah, they are, Allie." He told him softly. Al looked at him for another moment before giving John a quick hug and left the room to go and get a shower. John watched him go for a few moments, and then let out the breath he'd been holding and closed his eyes for a moment. That had gone pretty well, considering.

"Is he my son?" A voice broke the stillness of the room, and John opened his eyes again to see Alan studying him with an unreadable expression on his face. He saw other gazes shoot over to rest on Alan's face, a mixture of disbelief and confusion being the consensus. John nodded his head after a few moments.

"Yeah, Sprout. He's your son. Poor kid looks and acts just like you." John could not help that last comment, and he knew his brother would hear the teasing tone behind it. "He has a sister that will be coming in on Two, when it gets here. Speaking of which…" He made his way back over to the desk and sat down, flipping a switch to open a channel.

"Base to Thunderbird Two, what is your ETA?"

"Hello Tracy Island, this is the paddy wagon come to bring the loonies to the Insane Asylum." He heard a snort of laughter come from Gordon behind him, but he chose to ignore him for the moment. He shook his head at Monroe's quick retort. Definitely just like his Uncle Gordon. "Actually dad, we were just about to call. We are approximately about 1.5 minutes from base. Do we have clearance to land?" John checked the radar next to him.

"You are free and clear son. See you after you land. Just do the necessary checks when you land for now. You can go back and do the rest later. I need the three of you up here as soon as possible."

"Is everything okay dad?" Another voice asked, and could hear the worry in his daughter's voice.

"Yeah, everything's fine, Maddie sweetie. I just have something that I need to talk to you guys about." In the silence that followed, he could almost see her nod over the radio.

"FAB dad." She informed him. "We'll be there soon. Thunderbird Two out."

In the moments of stillness, John took the time to try and get his thoughts into order. So much had happened today that it was hard to make heads or tails out of it. The kids had been called out in a rescue, he had gone up to the marker to see his family and on the way, he had heard the unbelievable sound of a Thunderbird approaching the island.

_John breathed deep as he made his way up the path to where the monument stood. It was a little bit of a hike from the house, but it was close enough that it would only take a few minutes to get there. He usually tried to get up there once a week, but with the frequency of rescue calls as of late, he hadn't been able to get up there as much as he would have liked to. He just wished that one of the kids were able to be here to go with him, and he knew that they would if they were home, but __rescues came first. It had always been that way._

_John ducked as he pushed a branch out of the way and continued with his climb. He could see the clearing up ahead, and the reflection of the sun as it bounced off the monument. It had been Penny's idea to place a monument or statue or something on the island to give John and the kids a place to honor their fallen family members. He had just come out of his period of mourning at the time, and so he had left it up to her to design while he had been busy with trying to keep control of Tracy Enterprises. He would be the first to say that he was no business man like his father, but he did what he was able to keep things going. When she had finally showed him the finished product, he had been very impressed with the simplicity of it. It was a bronze plaque about three feet wide and two feet in height with the full names of his fallen family members on it, and a single phrase "Gone but never Forgotten" in script beneath it. Before seeing it, John would have sworn that he had no more tears left in his body to cry, but as he looked at it, he felt the tears flow once more, but this time, they were tears of cleansing._

_John had stopped to take a drink of water from a water bottle that he carried with him, when he heard the unmistakable sound of one of the Thunderbirds returning to the island. He glanced at his watch. It was still much too early for Thunderbird One to be approaching the island. He still had twenty five minutes before Lily would be back. He knew she flew fast, but not that fast! He turned toward the sound and cupped his hands around his eyes to try and see if he could make out which craft it was._

_When he did, his blood ran cold in his veins, and he began to run full speed back to the house, his thoughts a jumbled chaotic mess. The craft approaching had been Thunderbird Three. He knew that that particular Bird was safely ensconced in its silo at the moment, the kids only have had taken One and Two for the rescue. He couldn't even bring himself to think of the other possibility as to why Thunderbird Three would be approaching the island. No sign of the original craft had ever been found when his family had gone missing all those years ago; it had just been like it vanished into thin air. Even the NASA astronauts had reported that there was a blinding flash of light, like a reflection of the sun off a piece of metal, and when the trapped men could see again, Thunderbird Three was gone._

_He reached the house in record time just as he heard what sounded like one of the silos opening, and he tried to wrack his brain to try and come up with which one it had been. All the codes had been changed years ago when they had been working to reawaken International Rescue from dormancy, and so he knew it could be none of those. As he made his way inside, he froze for a moment, listening. He did not know what he was listening for, but he was sure that he would know it when he heard it._

_He had just stepped towards where his father's office had been when he heard clanging below his feet. It sounded close! He darted into the office and reached into the bottom left drawer of his father's desk where he knew Jefferson Tracy had always kept a gun. John always kept this room locked ever since the disappearance, but he was sure his dad wouldn't __have minded if he used the gun to protect himself. He knew he would never be able to get down to the weapons locker in Thunderbird Two's silo in time, so this would have to do._

_Hearing a noise outside the door to the office, he closed his eyes and sent out a silent prayer that the kids were off on a rescue, and not here, and everyone else was off the island, leaving only him at the moment. He did not want to put them in any more danger than was already absolutely necessary. Seeing the door slide open to the office, and hearing the corresponding hiss, John steeled himself to do whatever necessary to protect his home, his family, and the secrets that lay hidden around this island. He clenched the gun a little tighter in his hands, the sweat pooling in the center of his palms making the gun a little slippery to hold on to._

_And then the figures began to make their way into the room. His heart cried out in gladness as his eyes immediately recognized the lead figure as his father, but his mind wasn't so easily swayed. 'This is too easy.' It told him. 'For them to just walk in like this? Be careful, it might be a trap.' He slowly pushed down the lever on the gun, making himself jump at the loud click that echoed in the room._

"_Don't move." He heard someone say. It took him a moment to realize that the person speaking was him. Since when was his voice so shaky like that? "I won't hesitate to shoot." Shoot? Seriously, who was he trying to fool? The kids were always calling him the big softy. They had him wrapped around their littlest fingers. All they had to do was flash their big sad eyes at him, and he would cave in a heartbeat. Like he could do anything to hurt anyone… Okay, the person's hands were rising now, so far so good. "Now turn around." Wait, what? What did he just say? Oh god, please don't let it be dad, please don't let it be dad, plea… It's him. A moment of stunned silence. Yep, there goes the gun in a noisy clatter to the ground, but can't be bothered with it right now. _

"_Dad?" And cue the hoarse sounding voice again._

"_John?" Oh to hear his voice again! He felt on the verge of becoming a blubbering emotional wreck, but somehow he held it together. He was a grown man now; he really couldn't allow himself to fall apart so easily. He could not take his eyes off the other man, just drinking in the sight of him like a dying man to water. He looks just the same as I remember. He was able to push back tears easier now. But when Alan touched him, and he felt the firm feeling of flesh touching flesh, he lost it completely, and the tears flooded his eyes. The hug from his brothers had been like coming home to him._

The touch on his elbow brought him out of his memories, and he looked up to see Lily standing next to the desk, looking at him with a worried expression on her face. Apparently she was back from her shower. Her hair was down long, and she was in her favorite shorts and tank top.

"You okay John? I called you two or three times and you never answered."

John nodded to her. "Yeah, I'm okay Lils. Just lost in my thoughts." He gave her a reassuring smile, and he saw the ghost of one cross her lips as well. She didn't believe him, not by a long shot, but she wouldn't say anything right now.

He heard a snort of laughter, and someone say in a not so hushed whisper. "Yeah, not a place I'd want to be. A very dangerous place indeed."

"Maybe we should put up some warning signs… 'Dangerous area ahead… proceed with caution.'" Another voice chimed in.

"Ha ha ha, very funny guys." He told JT and Al without even turning around. "You forget, you're facing the same affliction when you get older." He was rewarded with mock gasps and snorts of laughter.

"Never! We'll always be cool and never be afflicted with old guy-ism." Al told him bravely.

John turned to face him. "Old guy-ism?" He asked and raised an eyebrow. "And what, may I ask, is Old guy-ism?" He turned to look at Lily to see what she thought of all of this, and he saw her trying to hide her own smile at the antics of her brother and nephew.

"Ya know, talking to yourself, staring off into space for long periods of time, not seeming to hear when people are trying to talk to you." JT told him amongst peals of laughter.

"Man Johnny," Gordon decided to add his two cents worth in apparently. "I know we always call you 'space case' but I didn't think it took on a literal meaning, too."

"Space case?" JT gasped out, holding his sides.

"Okay Gordo, that's enough." John tried to tell him, but he wasn't sure he could hear him over the two currently laughing themselves into a stupor. However, his attention was diverted by the sound of the office door sliding open, and he looked up to see Monroe, Maddie, and Lucy standing in the doorway. Monroe was looking down at his siblings with a look of amusement.

"I take it we missed something funny. I'll have to get it from them later." He had begun to step into the room, when his gaze was drawn to the five people sitting on the couch, and his mouth dropped open in shock. He turned to look at John, a question in his eyes. John nodded to him. "Well, that explains it them." He said seemingly to himself. He began to walk further into the room now, the two girls following after him.

Maddie made her way over to John and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. It was something that his little girl had done every single time she had come home from a rescue, almost her way of telling him that she was home safe, and he wrapped his arms around her in return, pressing a kiss into the woven gold colored hair. When she went to sit down next to Lily and Lucy, John took a deep breath. This was going to be so much different than a normal debrief.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** Yes, I own none of this, I just wish that I did!

Hugs and thanks for this chapter go to Elsa Jay Sweetie, I'm very happy that you are enjoying this story so much, and yes, I really don't need a life, it just gets in the way of story writing :P

Sorry if the beginning of this chapter doesn't really make too much sense everyone… I spent a good part of the afternoon out in the sun, and I'm dragging a bit. I'll probably go back over it again when I've gotten a good amount of sleep, and have a clear head.

TB25TB25

John knew that all the eyes in the room were looking at him to start the debriefing, and the other very important bit of information that had to be covered, but he truthfully did not know where to start.

Well, that wasn't wholly true, exactly. He knew how to conduct the debriefing, which was easy. But he just didn't know how to truthfully explain the reawakening or reemergence if you preferred, of his thought-to-be-dead father and brothers. How could he when he himself was mystified, and a bit skeptical himself as to how and why it had all happened, especially now. Why had it taken twenty-five years for it to happen? Was there some sort of purpose to it all? Wait until all of their lives had fallen into a pattern, and they were happy?

There were other people currently living on the island that he had to be concerned about this time, as opposed to years ago when his family had disappeared. His first thought would always go to his young siblings and children. How would they take the reappearance of dead family members, and how would this impact their lives?

And it wasn't just the kids that he had to think about. There was also the matter of Tin-Tin and Fermat and Brains. On that fateful day, she had lost the man that she loved, and as she was to find out later, the father of her children. He remembered the day when she had found out that she was pregnant. He had been making his way through the house on his way to his bedroom after a long run on the beach. It was one of the only few luxuries that he still allowed himself, and it gave him a chance to get his thoughts in order.

_He had just been walking by the room that had used to belong to his brother Alan, when he heard crying coming from within the room. John frowned to himself as the door to this room was usually kept locked, as were the door to the rest of the bedrooms, so he could not figure out why he was hearing crying. He stepped closer to the room and peered his head in the partially opened door. He stopped then he saw Tin-Tin lying on the bed, sobbing into the pillow. He had not heard her cry like this in the three months since the day of the disappearances. He quietly stepped into the room and laid his hand on her shoulder._

"_Tin?" He asked softly, settling down onto the bed next to her._

_Tin-Tin shot her head up in shock, and looked at him with red-rimmed tear-filled eyes. Without a word, she turned and threw herself against him, the tears coming in earnest once more. For a moment, he was frozen in shock, unsure of what to do, but then his body took over and did what he would have done for one of his brother when they were crying. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest as he rubbed her back softly._

_He had no idea how long they sat there, all his strength and attention focused on Tin, giving her all the support she needed. Finally her tears slowed and stopped, and she lay against his chest silently. He had started to think that she had fallen asleep against him when she finally pulled back to look at him, her face calmer._

"_You okay now?" He asked quietly, searching her face._

_She looked away and nodded. "About as well as I can be." She told him finally. "I'm sorry for losing it like that." She pointed to his shirt. "And crying on you." He noticed that she would not look at him now._

"_Hey," He said, and laid a finger against her cheek, forcing her face toward him again. "Look at me, Tin." It took a few moments, but finally she looked at him. "You are like a sister to me, have been for a while now, okay? So you never have to apologize for that. At least it is much better than some of the things that my brothers have ever done to me." The ghost of a smile appeared on her lips briefly._

"_Thanks John." She whispered. There was silence in the room for a few moments._

"_You wanna talk about it?" He asked finally._

_Tin-Tin nodded and when she began to speak, her voice was so low, John had to strain to hear her. "I had to go to the mainland for a doctor's appointment today. It was time for my annual checkup, and I also haven't been feeling well, and so I wanted to find out what was wrong." John nodded. He had noticed that she had been feeling under the weather recently._

"_The nurse had drawn some blood and told me that she was going to get it tested for a few different things, and then the doctor would be in to discuss the results with me. I was so nervous John. I wanted to know what was wrong with me, but I was also scared."_

"_Scared?" He asked. "Why were you scared?"_

"_What if it were something bad?" She replied. "I've already lost Alan, the man that I love. To me, that is as bad as they come." John had to agree with her on that._

"_Finally forty-five minutes later, the doctor came in." Tin-Tin said, continuing her story. "He sat down on the stool next to me and said "Well, we have the results back from your lab work, and apparently it seems that congratulations are in order. You're pregnant!"" Tin-Tin dropped her hands down to her flat abdomen. "How unfair is this John? I find out that I am pregnant with Alan's baby on his birthday, and he will never have the chance to know them, or watch them grow up!" She dropped her face into her hands and began to cry again._

_John sat back in shock. Wow, pregnant. His guesses had been so off the mark. He had been worried that there had been something horribly wrong with her! But pregnant was truly something he could handle. He felt a smile cross his face, the first one in a long while. It felt good to have something to be happy for._

"_Tin!" He said, grabbing her hands and holding them in his. He squeezed them gently and waited until she looked up at him._

"_Tin." He said again. "I know I am not my brother, but please let me help you with this. I don't want you to have to go through this alone. I want your child; my niece or nephew to know all about their dad and uncles and grandfather, and know that they can come to their Uncle Johnny for anything that they might need. After their mom, of course."_

_All through John's little speech, he had been unable to keep the smile off his face. It felt so good to finally have something to be happy about. It was something that was sorely needed. He just hoped that Tin-Tin would allow him to be there for her like that._

"_What I really wish," She began to say. "Was that Alan was here to share this with me." As she said the words, John felt his smile fade a little. But then suddenly a smile broke out across the Malaysian girl's face. "But I know that I can't have that. But what I can have is the next best thing, and that is to have you with me through this."_

_The smile broke out once more across John's face and he gently took Tin-Tin into his arms and hugged her. He would make sure her child knew all about his or her father. They would grow up know that their father was a good man who loved his family, and would have love his child unconditionally._

"_I'll make you proud of them, Sprout." He thought to himself._

That was the good reaction to the addition of children into the Tracy family, but whenever there was good, there always had to be sad. And as for Penny, well, there was a sad sad story there. Jon had not even known of her relationship with his father or her pregnancy until almost the very end. He had just come back from helping Tin-Tin with one of her final appointments when she had called him. To say that he had been very surprised was an understatement, and he was very grateful he was sitting down; else he was sure he would have fallen over.

"_Penny?" He gasped out._

_She smiled sadly at him. "I take it you never knew your father and I were intimate?" His disbelieving face was all the answer that she needed. "It started happening right before Christmas, and it was only two times. John, I loved your father very much, I still love him even now, and I knew what I was getting myself into. I know he was still very much in love with your mother, and I could never compete with that, but a girl has got to try, you know." A sad smile crossed her face. "I want you to know that I will not deny you a place in your siblings' lives. They are, after all, the only link that you have to your father now."_

"_Wait," He said after a moment. "They? You mean there is more than one?" what were the odds of this? He thought to himself. Both Penny and Tin-Tin pregnant with twins? He could not help the laughter that spilled out of him._

"_John, what is so funny?" She asked._

"_You …" snort of laughter. "Tin-Tin…" It was getting hard for him to breathe now amongst all the laughter. "Same time. Babies!" He didn't know if Penny would understand what he was trying to say. But somehow she understood._

"_Tin-Tin is pregnant as well?" She asked, shock appearing on her face._

_John nodded, the case of the giggles finally escaping him. 'She is due in August. It has been so fascinating watching her Penny. I really don't remember my mom being pregnant very well, since I was still small, but I have learned so much from this one. Makes Sarah's pregnancy that much easier to understand." A goofy smile had crossed his face at that. His girlfriend Sarah, a woman whom he had known since his days in NASA, someone who had been his sounding board so much in the past couple of months, had just found out that she was pregnant as well. He truly felt like he was over the moon with no sign of coming down. He could not wait to see her body grow and swell with his child over the next handful of months._

_When John focused his attention on the screen once more, he saw Penny watching him with a smile on her face, but he could see that the smile was tinged with sadness._

"_I am happy for you John. You deserve some happiness." He watched her rub her belly distractedly._

"_What about you Penny? You deserve to be happy. I would think you would be, especially with two babies on the way."_

"_Oh John." She signed sadly. "I truly wish that I could say that I was happy about this, but I'm not. I gave my heart to a man whom I knew couldn't or wouldn't be able to give me his heart in return. I thought I was okay with that. I thought that I could live with it as long as I had him in my life. But he is gone now. Yes I have his children, but to me, they will always be bitter reminders of what I have lost, and I am not sure I will ever be strong enough to be able to live with that for the rest of my life. Please do not be mad at me John. I have shed many tears over this, and asked myself if I am making the right decision. And I do think that I am making the right choice for me. And that is to give up custody of my children over to you after they are born. I would rather see them be raised by you and be happy, rather than be raised by me and feel as if they are not loved when I cannot bear to be in their presence more than just a few minutes at a time. I want them to know how special their father was, and I know you can do that for me. I wish this did not have to be so, but for me, this is goodbye. You are a very special man, John Glenn Tracy, and it has been a pleasure knowing you. Goodbye." There was a flash, and the screen went dark._

_That was the last time that he ever heard from Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward. He did see her butler Parker one last time, about a month later, a few days after Lily and JT were born, whom she had named as a last duty as their mother. Parker also carried with him the papers granting John full custody of his brother and sister._

_He did hear about her in the news a few years later after she had had the society wedding of the year. He had sent a gift in congratulations, but he had never heard anything back from the happy bride and groom, so he was unsure if they had gotten it or not. But he had made the attempt, and that was enough for him._

Apparently he was quiet for too long and was brought back to the present by a hand on his shoulder. He looked up into the worried eyes of his father.

"You okay son?" Jeff asked. John could see Lily out of the corner of his gaze sharing a concerned look with her brother. He had tried to give them the best life possible over the past twenty plus years, and they had both grown up to be amazing people. He just wished that Penny could see the young adults they were turning into, but she had made her decision years ago.

"Yeah dad." He replied. "Just lost in memories." Jeff looked at him a moment longer as if trying to decipher something in his second-born's face, but finally nodded and went back to sit next to Scott on the orange couch. John watched him move, and when Jeff sat down again, he spoke.

"Dad, what happened on that rescue?"

"Wait, dad, what about the debrief on the rescue?" Monroe asked.

"We will do it later." John informed him. Right now, he really wanted to get down to the truth as to what had happened to his family twenty-five years ago. He made sure to turn on the audio recorder so that he could have Fermat and Brains listen to it when they returned home. He could see Jeff frowning at him for skipping the debriefing, but he began to speak regardless.

"We were approaching the coordinates where we had been informed the stranded astronauts were, and we had opened a channel to them to tell them we were almost there and we would have them freed soon. I had just given your brother Alan the order to line up Thunderbird Three with the shuttle, when there was a giant flash of light that left us blinded for a few moments, and our reading started going out of control. When we could see again, the shuttle was no where to be found. I tried contacting NASA to apprise them of our situation with no response. Finally I made the decision to return to base, as I am sure that you know the rest of the story." John nodded. He did definitely know the end of the story. He saw his son's curious look and he shook his head.

"John pulled a gun on dad." Gordon chipped in.

"Gordon." Jeff said sharply. Gordon swung his head to look at his father, and then looked away.

"Sorry."

"Wait." JT said, raising a hand. "Am I hearing this right? Johnny pulled a gun on someone? Mr. Guns and violence are not the answer? Are you sure you've got the right person?" John shook his head at his brother. Sometimes he really wondered if he was Jeff Tracy's son, or if he were actually Gordon's son in disguise.

"Guns don't kill people," JT intoned solemnly. He turned to look at Al and Monroe who were already grinning. "Husbands who come home early do!" They finished together.

John found himself chuckling at the boys antics. Even if he had heard it a thousand times before, he still could not help but laugh.

"So what about you guys?" He heard Scott say for the first time since they had arrived at the house. He looked up to see that Scott was talking to Lily, Maddie, and Lucy. "How did you guys meet John and get involved in the Thunderbirds?" 'And how did you come to fly my bird?' John added silently. That was what this was all about, after all. He turned his gaze to Lily, whom he could see already had a grin on her face.

"You guys want to introduce yourselves?" John casually hinted. He was just going to sit back and watch this one. He could not wait to see the reactions.

"My name is Lily Marie Tracy." Lily began off.

"I'm Madison Sierra Tracy." Maddie said from between her and Lucy.

"I'm Lucy Penelope Tracy." Lucy said in her soft voice. Roe wrapped and arm around her shoulders and gave her a sideways hug, and she shot him a smile in thanks.

"My name is Monroe Jonathan Tracy." Monroe put a wave in his introduction for good measure, which earned him a smack from Al.

"I'm Alan Shepard Tracy Jr. but you guys can call me Al." He turned to look at JT who was the last one to introduce himself.

"I guess it's my turn now, huh. Don't know how I ended up being last, but anyways, I'm JT; Jefferson Grant Tracy II."

John had been watching his father's face, and when JT introduced himself, he saw the older man's face go ashen, and his head whipped around to look at John. He saw the unspoken question in his eyes and he nodded. He saw Jeff run an unsteady hand over his face in reaction.

"All Tracy's." He heard Virgil murmur quietly.

"Wait, hold on." Scott said standing up and making his way over to JT. "How can you all be Tracy's?" John saw Lily's eyes narrow as it seemed that Scott was going to direct his anger at her brother, which in the next moment, he did. "And you. Who are your parents?"

JT calmly looked up at Scott and then over to his sister. He nodded slightly, letting her know that he could handle this.

"There is no need to get angry and defensive with me." He told Scott. JT had nearly no temper to speak of. If anything, he seemed to keep a constant cool which would really freak people out. "I have done nothing wrong to cause this reaction."

"Just answer the question!" Scott all but shouted into his face.

"Scott." Jeff said from the couch behind him, but Scott seemed to not hear him. He had a full head of steam at this point and wouldn't hear anyone.

JT peered past Scott and looked at John, who nodded. Let's see how big brother handles this one.

"My father, whom I see you have already surmised, is the same as you: Jefferson Grant Tracy. Why else would I be named after him as I am."

"And your mother?" He demanded, shooting a glare back to his father.

"We have no mother." Lily told him, coming over to stand next to her brother. "She chose to take herself out of our lives when we were born. John is the one that has raised us and cared for us all of our lives." Lily looked around Scott and over at John, and he could read the deep love in her eyes for him which he returned back with his whole heart. "But if you wish to know her name; the woman who gave birth to us and then abandoned us, then we will tell you, only as long as it is agreeable with our father."

Jeff's face was paler than pale after hearing Lily and JT's story. "She abandoned you?"

"As she told me when I found out about Lily and JT, she did not think she would be able to look at them for the rest of her life and be reminded of the man that she loved that she had lost, knowing that she had given him her heart and never got one in return. She wanted them to grow up in a home where they would be loved, and she knew they would have that with me. I still remember what she said." He looked up at the ceiling to remember the exact words that she had used, and when he spoke, his voice was quieter. "I gave my heart to a man whom I knew couldn't or wouldn't be able to give me his heart in return. I thought I was okay with that. I thought that I could live with it as long as I had him in my life. But he is gone now. Yes I have his children, but to me, they will always be bitter reminders of what I have lost, and I am not sure I will ever be strong enough to be able to live with that for the rest of my life." John quietly informed his father. He looked over to where JT and Lily were standing, and he could see that they had linked hand.

"But I did love her, John." Jeff told him in a pain-filled voice. "For so long after your mother died, I was a broken shell. I suddenly had five boys that I had to raise alone, and so anything that I wanted for me had to be pushed to the wayside. Everything I did had to be for you boys.

"I remember the first day I met her," The hint of a smile crossed his face. "She was like a bolt of pure sunshine running through me, and I was blinded at first by her." John smiled at the wistful look that had crossed Jeff Tracy's face as he thought about the second woman who had stolen his heart. "This was right after we had first gotten International Rescue running, and so I was usually all over the place. When I told her who I was, she said that she didn't care. That floored me. Usually people only wanted to know me after they learned my name. But she was different. She was…" Jeff trailed off for a moment, seemingly lost in a memory. A good one, John surmised, but the smile that was appearing on his father's face.

"The first time I kissed her, I was so afraid I was going to screw it up. I hadn't felt this nervous since I had been a teenager, but she assured me everything would be alright." Jeff sighed and looked down at his hands.

"I will always love your mother boys. She will always be in my heart. She gave me five precious gifts that I will always treasure. But for me, I want more than that. I want more than just memories of what I used to have and have lost. I want someone to share the rest of my life with, and grow old with. I had thought that I had found it with her." He turned to look at John. "But I've lost that now."

"Who was she dad? Did we know her?" Virgil asked.

"Yeah, you knew her Virge." John told him. "It was Penny."

"Penny?" He asked, shocked.

"Yes," Lily replied. "The woman who gave birth to us was Penelope Creighton Ward."


	5. Chapter 5

After the meeting was over, John went back up to his office to give himself some time to think. A lot of things had been let out into the open, and some of them were going to take some time to get over. Of course, he was sure that there were some things that no matter how much time passed, would never be something that would be handled easily.

He looked at the pictures that adorned the walls of his office; at the smiling faces of his siblings and children. His whole life was centered around them, and he could not imagine his life without them in it. He could not even begin to imagine what his father and brothers were going through. Everything they knew was different, and the world they had reappeared in was different than the one that they had left. He just hoped that when Fermat got home, he could figure out what had happened to Thunderbird Three all those years ago.

He turned when he heard a beeping coming from one of the monitors on his desk. He was running a scan of both Thunderbird Threes to see if he could pick up the differences between the two crafts. But he was no scientist like Fermat and Brains, and so he did not know what to look for. That was their area of expertise.

For a moment, he stopped to think of what the resident genius scientist's reaction would be to the return of his best friend. Fermat had mourned and grieved just as much as John had, but he had never outright showed it. If anything, the disappearances had caused him to delve even deeper into science. Deep down, John had a feeling that maybe Fermat wanted to figure out what had happened to his best friend. He had never been the same after Alan's disappearance, and he knew that he would be overjoyed when he found out who was waiting for him back on the island.

A knock on his office door had him turning away from the information currently scrolling along the monitor, and the line of thoughts that he had been following.

"Come in." He called. He was surprised when the door opened and he saw his dad standing in the open doorway. He saw that the other man had taken the time to go down to his bedroom and change. John had made sure he had unlocked the bedrooms after the meeting had gotten over. He was sure his dad and brothers did not want to stay in their flight suits.

"Dad!" He started to get up from his desk, but his father's raised hand stopped him, and so he settled back down into his chair, watching the other man's gaze peruse around the room.

"I must admit nice office you've got here. Amazing views. I always loved spending time up here, just looking out over the water. I used to come up here a lot when we first moved here. I felt so peaceful when I was up here, and all I could see was water all around for as far as my eyes could see." He stepped back over towards the desk again, and studied the instruments that were imbedded into the desktop. "Makes me curious as to why you didn't decide to use my office though. Everything is set up in there after all."

"That was your office. I couldn't intrude." Was John's answer. "Besides today, that room had been locked up for the past twenty-five years, as had been the bedrooms as well. I guess that I always hoped in the back of my mind that you guys would come home again, and so I wanted to leave things exactly as you had left them."

Jeff nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving his second-born son. It was sort of surreal for him, seeing his son as a man who was almost as old as he was. Especially after seeing him just that morning as a man who had been twenty-five years younger.

"How about you, son? What has life been like for you?" Jeff hitched his hip up onto the side of the desk and settled there for a moment, his eyes glancing over all the pictures that John had displayed there.

John sighed and rubbed his hands over his face before turning to look up into his father's face once more. "I will not lie to you dad. It was hard at first, very hard. When you disappeared, it felt like my world had been thrown off its axis. Suddenly, my life was flipped upside down, and over night it seemed I was in charge of everything. Thankfully Penny took care of the press conference and statement, but even then, it was still hard, especially once the truth was out and everyone knew, it made it very difficult for me to leave the island-"

"Wait!" Jeff practically yelled, holding up a hand, stopping John in midsentence. John patiently waited for his dad to speak. He had been expecting this, and so it did not faze him. "'Once the truth was out and everyone knew'?" Jeff's voice was low and dangerous. This was the tone that had frightened John when he had been younger, but no longer. Especially not when he had a tone of his own that he had been know to use from time to time.

"Yes," John said his gaze steady as he looked up at his father. "Once everyone knew. Penny was the one that came up with the idea, and after I took the time to think about it, I thought it was a good idea as well. what better way to mourn the end of International Rescue, than to finally know the names of the brave men who had risked their lives to protect other and never asked for anything in return?" a wry smile crossed his face. "Of course, that made it very difficult for me to leave the island. But once the babies started arriving, I much rather preferred to stay home and stay with them, but I made sure that I set aside time in the morning to take care of business work. Of course the time difference between here and Tracy Enterprises New York could be a killer sometimes, but I made it work. All I kept thinking was 'What would dad do', and that helped me get through a lot of situations that came my way."

"I am impressed." Jeff said after a minute. "I am sorry that I left you so much to deal with though."

John waved off his apology. "I have had a good life over the past twenty-five years dad. I have an amazing, beautiful, gorgeous wife, two remarkable children, and a brother, sister, niece, and nephew whom I love dearly and consider like my own children. Yes, I do regret that I did not have the five of you here to share it with me, but I always believed that you were here, watching me from above, like mom has been."

There was a comfortable silence in the room for a few minutes before a beeping interrupted that. It was someone hailing the island.

"Tracy One to Tracy Island." A deep voice came out of the speakers that Jeff did not immediately recognize, but John did. He reached over and flipped a switch on the comm. panel on the desk with a smile.

"Tracy One, this is Tracy Island, I read you loud and clear. How was the shopping, Fermat?" Some grumbling could be heard over the speakers before the voice that Jeff now knew to be an adult Fermat Hackenbacker spoke again.

"I would rather go up to Thunderbird Five and survive with no gravity for a month to upgrade her systems to finally bring her active again, rather than go shopping."

John felt a breath lodge in his throat. Even just hearing the name still gave him this sort of reaction. After all these years, he still missed his 'Bird desperately. When they had started working on bringing the Thunderbirds back into action, there had been questions as to if it would be plausible to put the work and time into Thunderbird Five to upgrade it as well. It had been a tough decision for him, but he had finally decided that as much as he wanted to be up in space again on his beloved Five, the kids needed him down here just a little bit more. "Yeah, I know what you mean, Ferm. I'd love to be up there again." Jeff shot him a look when he heard the tone in his son's voice. "That reminds me, I have something for you to look at. I'll send you a little bit of it now, and the rest will be waiting here for you. Sending it to you now." He sent the first part of the diagnostic scan from the old Thunderbird Three to Fermat.

"Got it." Fermat responded and John locked his fingers together in his lap waiting for Fermat's reaction. To John, it felt like it took forever, but in reality, it was only a few moments before the scientist's voice came back on the line.

"John, wh-wh-where did you g-g-get this? Is th-th-this what I think it is?" It was obvious that Fermat had figured it out. He hadn't stuttered in years, and suddenly now he sounded like he did before he had grown out of it.

"Yeah, Ferm. It is exactly what it seems to be." John told him.

"ETA is five p-p-dash one minute." Fermat responded, changing the subject. "Permission to land?"

"Granted. See you when you get home. Oh, and Fermat, can you tell Tin that I'd like to speak to her in my office after she lands? I'm going to tell her myself."

"F.A.B." He responded, and the radio went silent.

John flicked the channel closed and turned to face his dad, an amused look on his face.

"What is so funny?" He asked.

John inclined his head out towards the ocean. "Fermat. I haven't seen him like react to something like that in years. He grew out of the stuttering years ago, so to hear him talking like that again…" John starting chuckling to himself. Oh yes, things were going to be interesting.

"Son, what happened to Thunderbird Five?" Jeff's question erased the good mood that John was having.

"Nothing." He said finally. "But when we were getting the 'Birds ready to bring International Rescue back online, we had to decide whether it was feasible to include Five in the list of crafts needing upgrades. And as much as I wanted to bring it back online, at the time, it would have taken too much work and time to bring it back online, and what it all boiled down to was the fact that the kids needed me here on the island. So she's up there, cold, empty, out-dated, and I'm here, earth-bound as I've been for the past twenty-five years." His gaze turned up towards the ceiling, as if he could see Thunderbird Five floating up in the sky above them.

After a few minutes, he sighed and looked back at his father. "There were so many times when I was younger when I really hated being up there when the rest of you guys were down here. But after I couldn't go up there any more, I really missed it. Some days I really wish that I could be up there again." Silence embraced the room once more.

"I'm sorry son." Jeff said finally. And he was. To him, this was all his fault. If he and the others hadn't gone missing, then nothing would have had to have changed. He would have been here to see his children grown, and Alan would have been here to see his children born and gods, he was a grandfather! He had never taken the time to really stop and think about it, but it was true; he was a grandfather now!

John waved his apology away again. "Don't worry about it. I've come to terms with it. I know there is nothing that I can do, and I'm okay with that. The kids are more important to me."

"Tracy One on final approach. Base, do you read?" It was a female voice this time, which Jeff assumed was Tin-Tin. He knew for certain when John grinned and flipped the switch to open the channel again.

"Hey there Tin! Long time no see, stranger." He chuckled.

"Very funny John." She remarked dryly. "Mind telling me what you sent to Fermat earlier? He's been stuttering ever since. I can hear him and Brains mumbling back and forth behind me, but I can't tell what they're talking about."

"Just some scans that I thought that he'd be interested in." He told her, not telling her the whole truth.

"Right." She said, reading through his excuses. "You will tell me the whole truth, one way or the other, John Glenn Tracy."

"Okay Tin." He continued to chuckle. "Did Fermat also give you the message that I wanted to talk to you when you're done bringing the supplies and other stuff up?"

"Oh, that is what my kids are for." She laughed. "I'll be up as soon as I can. Right now, I have to focus on landing. Don't think you want me crashing the jet. Tracy One out."

"She sounds like her mother." He heard his father remark as he closed the channel for the final time.

"She does, but don't tell her that. She'll be liable to hit you." John turned and stood up, making his way over to look out the window and he could see the powerful jet on the verge of landing. He cheered silently when he saw the times smoke as she powered the engines lower, and it came to a stop. He knew it would be a few minutes before she could make her way up here, so he was startled after a few minutes there was a knock on his door and Tin-Tin walked in. at his raised eyebrows, she shook her head.

"Fermat told me that he would handle everything, and for me to get up here as quickly as I could. What is going on John?"

John quickly looked around the room for his father, and sighed in relief when he wasn't there. "Sit down Tin." He motioned her over to one of the chairs over in the corner of his office. She sat down, but he could read the confusion and determination on her face. "Something happened after you left to go to the Mainland. Something that I wanted you to hear from me first, and not anyone else. Now before you ask, all the kids are alright, they are fine. No injuries or anything from the rescue."

"John," She warned. "What is it? What happened?"

He sighed. "Tin, Thunderbird Three finally came home." There, he had said it. He watched her face closely, looking for the moment when she realized what he was talking about.

"John, what are you talking about, 'Thunderbird Three finally came home'? I was here when they left on the rescue, remember? They only took One and Two… that is not what you mean, is it?" Tin-Tin's voice trailed off.

"No, it's not what I mean." He told her solemnly.

"You are referring to the Thunderbird Three that disappeared twenty-five years ago during a rescue, taking with it five of the bravest men I have ever known, including the man whom I loved and still love now." She looked down at the ring that still adorned her finger. As far as he knew, in all the years since Alan and the others had been presumed dead, she had never taken it off. "That is what you are talking about."

John nodded.

"Where are they?" She asked him, looking around the room. "Are they here?" She turned to face him, tears in her eyes. "Does he know? About his children?"

"Yeah Tin, he knows. They've all met." A gasping sob was her only reaction to his news.

"I want to see him John." She stood up and turned towards the door. He grabbed her arm before she could move. He had to tell her before she went searching.

"Wait Tin. Before you go looking for him, there is one thing that you have to know. They-" He was interrupted by the door to his office swinging open, and Alan stood there.

"Hey Johnny, Al said that he saw his mother heading this way. Have you seen…" His voice trailed off as he saw Tin-Tin standing there. "Her?"

"Alan?" She gasped in shock. He was just as she remembered him. He hadn't aged a day.

"…haven't aged." John finished finally. But of course, neither of them was paying attention to him; they only had eyes for each other as was expected. He could see the love in his brother's eyes prominently displayed for the woman that stood in front of him, and he was sure that those feelings were reflected back in her eyes as well. While he had the chance, he quietly snuck out of the room. He had to find Fermat and see what he thought of the readings.

He found the younger man down in the hanger along with the kids and the rest of his family. His father saw him coming and called out to him.

"So how did the talk go?" John stepped up to him and looked at Fermat as he came out of the jet.

"Oh, it was fine before Alan busted in looking for her. But I left the two of them up there together to give them time to talk." He heard Al snort at that last comment.

"Talking, yeah. They're gonna be just talking. Wait, ewww, what am I saying? Those are my parents!" He started making gagging noises.

"Mr. Tracy!" He heard Fermat said excitedly and made his way over to Jeff. Jeff looked at him and a smile crossed his face.

"Well, hello Fermat. My, you have grown up into a very handsome grown man." Fermat blushed, and stammered slightly.

"Yes, well, y-y-you have been m-m-m-missed." He looked at the ground frustrated. John knew that he was mad at himself for the stuttering. He hadn't done it in so long, that he was mad that it had come back.

It was at that moment that he felt the arms wind around his waist and a figure press themselves against him. He smelled the perfume that surrounded him, and a voice whisper in his ear. "Miss me?"

John could not help the smile that crossed his face as he pulled Sarah around to face him, and he gazed into her beautiful upturned face surrounded by a cloud of mahogany chocolate hair, and felt a rush of overwhelming love rush through him as he looked at her. "Dreadfully." He murmured against her lips a moment before he kissed her. "Never go away like that again." He heard her laugh as he pulled her against him and hugged her close to him.

"Never." She agreed with him, another laugh escaping her. Finally she pulled back enough to look into his face. "Something you need to tell me about?" She asked, tilting her head towards where his brothers and father stood.

"They showed up while everyone was gone, honey. I had been going up the hill to see them, and I heard Thunderbird Three approaching the island." Sarah knew him well enough that she would be able to read the expressions and emotions in his eyes at how shocked he had been, and still was over all of this.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here to be with you through this." She told him quietly, and he pulled her back into his arms, saying nothing.

"But you are here now. That is all that matters." He whispered against her lips before stealing one last kiss. It was only at the sound of his father clearing his throat amongst his brothers kissing sounds and exaggerated laughing that he finally broke away from her and turned back to them. "Okay, that is enough guys." He looked over at his father, and saw the raised eyebrows.

"Son, don't you think that introductions are in order?" He said moments before Monroe came over to them and made a beeline for his mother.

"Mom!" He rushed into her open arms and hugged her tightly.

John chuckled slightly. "Guys, this is my beautiful wife, Sarah Tracy."


	6. Chapter 6

Well, this is the last chapter of the story. All that is left is the epilogue to post, and I have that written already and ready to go. As always the disclaimer of no, I don't own any of these sexy guys, I only wish I did.

TB25TB25

It was a few hours later before Fermat called John down to his lab. To say that John had felt like he was treading on pins and needles since the genius had gotten back to the island was an understatement. So when John got the page, he moved so fast he almost ran. He could hear his father and siblings chuckling behind him. But he knew they were just as anxious to know what had happened to them.

As he approached Fermat's office, he could hear laughter. He stuck his head in to see Fermat sitting there with Alan. Fermat seemed to be telling in the midst of telling Alan a funny story. His brother had his arms wrapped around himself, his face bright red, and he was sure he could see the sheen of tears in his eyes.

"So Al turns to the man and says in an innocent tone 'But Sir, I have been here the entire time, how could I have done that?' It was priceless."

Alan fell to the floor laughing, holding his sides tightly now. "That was priceless. Oh man, my stomach hurts from laughing so much." He looked up and saw John standing in the doorway. "Hey John, Fermat was just telling me a story about my son." John could not help but see the look of pride that crossed Alan's face. "He sounds like a pretty remarkable boy. Sounds like Tin gave him and Lucy a pretty good childhood, right John?"

John nodded. "Yeah, Alan, Tin did an awesome job. She has been an awesome mother to them."

"I just wish I had been here so that she didn't have to do it alone." He said as the smile fell off his face. "I missed the pleasure of watching my children grow up, and that is something that I can never get back."

"Actually," Fermat cut in. He turned to John. "I finished studying that scan that you gave me."

"And?" John asked his mouth dry. Fermat started going into some scientific mumbo-jumbo that John could not understand. Finally he raised his hand and stopped Fermat mid-sentence. "In English, Fermat." He told him. Fermat nodded and looked at Alan and then back at John.

"I can modify Thunderbird Three to emit the correct frequency to trigger the anomaly. Once that is done, the same problems will arise. This will be a sign that they will be crossing the anomaly, returning them to their correct time."

"How long will the modifications take?" John asked.

"Three hours." Fermat reported. John nodded.

"I am going to call a meeting, and I want you to tell everyone what you told me. We'll let them decide what to do." He said, looking at Alan.

"I vote for going back." Alan said softly from beside them.

"I know Sprout." John said and laid his hand on Alan's shoulder.

Twenty minutes later, they were all together in John's office, and Fermat was just finishing up his report. As John had expected, his father and brothers had pensive looks on their faces as they thought about what they had been told.

"If we go back," Scott said. "Will we remember our time here?"

Fermat shrugged his shoulders. "It is unknown. This is an unprecedented situation."

"Well boys," Jeff said. "Looks like we have some thinking to do." He was standing up to leave the room when a frantic beeping started from John's desk, and they could hear what seemed to be a scanner.

"…Calling International Rescue… Come in, International Rescue." John lunged for his desk.

"This is International Rescue. What is your emergency?" He looked up at his family watching from around the desk.

"Fire … over-run … people trapped … can't get to them." As the man spoke, John tracked his call. He felt his blood run cold as he determined where it was coming from. To get this call at this particular time. He flipped the mic off and swore under his breath, seeing his father's eyebrows rise at the curse.

"Help is one the way." John said as he flipped open the channel once more. He locked eyes with Lily and nodded. He muted his mic and faced his family. "Okay guys, we have a fire in the English Countryside. I have been able to pull it up on satellite, and it looks like the house is on fire. According to the call, there are people trapped inside. Roe, you are going to need the Fire flash and possibly the mole." Monroe nodded.

"There is something you are not telling us about this rescue." His father demanded.

John looked up at him, and stared at him for a moment. Finally he nodded. "You're right, there is. The origins of the call come up as Gloucestershire, England. I can only hope it is a coincidence." He watched his father pale when he realized the significance of that place, and he nodded.

"We can only hope, but best bet is to plan for the worst." He looked at the kids who were approaching their tunnels, and turned back to his son. "I want to go along." John studied him for a moment.

"Are you sure about that dad? You don't want to make her think she is seeing ghosts, if it is her." He asked.

"I need to know, John." A pleading tone entering Jeff's voice now.

John nodded towards Lily. "You have to ask her. She is in charge out there."

Lily approached the desk now. "Johnny, what are you guys talking about? What is so special about this rescue that he wants to come along?"

John sighed. "Lils, we think that the rescue might have something to do with your mother."

Lily's face turned motionless, and she nodded after a moment, linking eyes with her brother who also nodded. "He can come. Everyone can come to help if they want. But remember I am in charge out there." She said, her eyes flashing fire. She turned her gaze on Fermat who now stood by the wall, watching silently. "I need you to man base control." She flicked her gaze to John. "Johnny is coming too." Her tone left no room for argument.

"F.A.B." Fermat said after a moment.

As John sat in Thunderbird Two on the way to the rescue, he could not help but think how weird it felt to be going on a rescue after twenty five years of sitting on the sidelines. He could feel the adrenaline pumping through his system, as well as the butterflies starting to make their presence known in his stomach. His leg started twitching from side to side, and he let it move.

A hand on his leg stopped him, and he looked up into the eyes of his father. He could read the nervousness and a bit of worry in the dark depths. He could only imagine what his father was thinking about the possibility of seeing Penny again. He did not know how he was able to keep so calm.

"I'm nervous John, don't doubt that." His father's voice reached him, and John looked at him, wondering if he was a mind reader now.

"Coming up on the accident site. Hang on guys." Monroe's calm voice came back to them, and John tightened the harness instinctively. With both his son, and his middle brother in the cockpit, he knew they'd land alright; John just had a thing with landing that he had never told anyone about.

"F.A.B." He murmured. He looked at his father and brothers. "You guys ready for this." Alan nodded, and as soon as they were on the ground, he grabbed the helmets and handed them out.

"Okay guys." They heard over the comm. system. "Let's get the Mole and Fire flash unloaded and ready to go." As always, Lily was all business, but John could not help but detect something else in her tone, but he could not tell what it was. As he slipped out of Thunderbird Two, he looked over towards the house, and could see it was almost ready to collapse. If there were anyone still trapped in the house, they would be good as dead now. He rushed over to mobile control to find out what the plan was.

"Okay, according to scans, the house is void. With the fire raging as badly as it is, I can't get an accurate scan of it to tell if there is anyone left in there, and I'm not about to risk anyone to check." She pointed down to one of the screens on mobile control. "So I think we should focus on this area here. There are a bunch of houses where I think I might be detecting some life readings, but over the fire, I can't be sure. JT, Roe, Alan Sr., I want you to go and check those. Make sure you keep in constant contact at all times.

"F.A.B." They said and ran to grab air tanks before heading off.

Lily looked at Virgil, Scott, and Jeff. "I need you three to find out how many people there are supposed to be, and then do a headcount. If there are people missing, I need you to find out exactly where they were last seen, and then report back." For a moment, it seemed like Scott was balking at her orders. After all, he had always been the one that had given the orders, not taken them. He stared at her in a battle of wills for a moment before she spoke. "I do not have time for you to think you can best me. We are here to do a job, and I expect you to do it. If not, you can wait in one of the Birds for us to be done, am I clear?" There was no nonsense in her tone as she stared at Scott.

"Understood." Scott said finally, and ran to follow her orders. John grinned to himself. Oh yes, big brother had met his match in Lily.

Lily had just turned to John and was about to have him do something when a scream rent the air. All heads whipped around to see a young man racing towards mobile control.

"My mother is still in there!" He gasped.

"Where?" Lily demanded.

"In the house. She is trapped under a beam. She can't get out." He grabbed John's arm. "Please help her!"

"Okay, young man, we will help your mother. Where exactly in the house is she?" John could feel himself slipping back into the consoling tones he had used so often before.

"She was in the back. She was in the solarium. Please help her." He begged a tear or two beginning to slip down his cheeks.

"We will help her, don't worry. That is what we do." John locked eyes with Lily, and saw her talking into her watch; trying to bring some other members of the team back over to help. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his father, Scott, and Virgil rush over.

"What is your mother's name, young man?" He asked.

"Her name is Pen…" He took a deep gulp of air. John felt a fission of fear as the boy spoke again. "Lady Penelope Strathmore."

John's gaze locked with his father's. It was just as they had feared. It was Penny who needed them.

In no time at all, they were breeching the house to look for Penny. Jeff had been the first one to move, running over to the pod and grabbing an air tank and then making off for the house like his life depended on it. John, Scott, Virgil, and Gordon had rushed after him as quickly as they could, and now the five were trying to find the safest way into the burning building.

"Be careful in here guys." Scott informed them. There were beams hanging down all over the place, some still on fire, and they had to be careful to not catch themselves on them.

"If anything happens to her…" John heard his father say brokenly.

"Don't do this to yourself dad." Scott said. "We have to find her."

They had gone a few more feet when John paused. He thought he had heard something; a voice calling for help. Yes, there it was again.

"This is International Rescue." He called. "We're here to rescue you." His eyes started searching the room to see if he could make out where the person was. He could see his family also searching.

"Over here." The voice called out weakly, and John saw movement out of the corner of his left eye. He whipped his head around and squinted his eyes and finally saw what looked like a hand waving. He rushed over and took the hand, looking down into the face of the trapped person.

"I'll get you out of here in just a moment." He told them. He looked up at his brothers. "Scott, Virgil, help me move this." He motioned to the beam pinning the person down.

He heard a gasp, and he looked back down at the trapped person. "John?" The voice said.

"Yeah, Penny. It's me." He smiled down at her and squeezed her hand.

"We'll get you out of this Penny." He heard his father say, and she looked up at Jeff in disbelief. "Jeff? Am I dead?" He heard tears form in her voice.

"No Penny." Jeff told her, reaching down to cup her face. "To make a long story short, we didn't die. Just took us twenty-five years to get home." John had to turn away and blink back tears as he heard the tone of voice that Jeff used as he talked to Penny. To him, now it was more than obvious how the elder Tracy had felt about Penny, being able to hear the love in his father's voice for her, and he was saddened about a love that was never able to grow.

John turned his gaze to his brothers and saw that they nearly had the beam sawed through. "We've almost got you out Penny. Just five more seconds." Two seconds later, the beam was in two pieces, and Jeff and John carefully helped her up and they made their way out of the burning building. John could hear the crackling of burning wood growing louder, and he knew that they had maybe just scant moments before everything would come crashing down around them. It was just in just the knick of time that they got her out too, as the moment they got her out and they were heading over to Thunderbird Two to get her checked out, they could hear behind them the house caving in on itself. John looked over his shoulder at Scott and the same expression was on his brother's face as he was sure was on his. That had been close.

As they set Penny down, her son came rushing over to her, and she opened her arms to him. With a cry, he launched himself into her arms. Over his tears, he could hear Penny talking to him. "It's alright, Grant. I'm okay." John felt his gaze shoot over to his father, and he took in the expression on the other man's face. She had named her son Grant. While she hugged him, she never took her eyes off Jeff. She had the most peculiar look on her face as she stared at him, and if John had been forced to name it, he would have been hard pressed to. It was like a combination of shock, disbelief, and perhaps even the tiniest bit of love?

Meanwhile, while she and Jeff had been having their staring contest, Virgil had slipped in and given her a quick check. He apparently had found nothing wrong when he nodded to himself and stood up, moving away as quickly as he had slipped in. No one was any wiser to the fact that he had been there. He didn't think that Penny had even noticed anything had happened.

From where he was standing, John was close enough to hear Penny when she spoke; and right now, the only words that seemed to be able to come out of her mouth were 'How is this possible?', and her gaze would move to take in his brothers as well. John knew exactly how she felt. To him, it still seemed like a dream that his family was here after all this time, and at any moment, he expected to wake up and have them be gone once more.

Out of the corner of his eye, John saw Penny raise a hand and slowly move it towards where one of Jeff's hands rested on his hip. John could see the look of trepidation on her face as it moved loser and closer. John found himself holding his breath for a moment as her hand finally touched Jeff's. He saw her eyes fill with tears as she felt the solid flesh under her hand, just as he had just a day earlier when Alan had touched him in the office after their surprising return. He saw Jeff look down at the feeling of Penny's hand on his, and after a moment, he turned his hand so that he was able to take her hand in his as he locked his eyes with hers. One could almost palpably taste the friction in the air coming from the two of them. John was sure that Penny never noticed when Scott deftly steered Grant away from his mother and offered to show him one of the mighty Thunderbird crafts. The young boy did not need to be witness to what would happen between his mother and Jeff. His gaze followed Scott as he led the boy over to Thunderbird Two and they entered the pod.

John turned back to his father and Penny just in time to see his father cup one of Penny's cheek in his hand, a look of such tender love on his face, and of her nuzzling her face into his palm before pressing a tender kiss into it. John turned around at that moment. It would not have been right for him to watch them any further. They needed their time to talk alone.

He made his way over to the pod where he could hear voices echoing from inside. He made his way up the ramp and looked into the cavern. After a moment, he heard a voice calling his name, and he made his way over to where the others seemed to be waiting.

"How are things going out there?" Scott asked John when he approached them. He could see Grant talking with Gordon and Alan and the others on the other side of the pod, and he nodded to himself that he and Scott could talk without Penny's son hearing anything. He stopped as he felt two slim arms wrap around his waist, and he wrapped his arms around Maddie as she gave him her customary after rescue hug. He had to choke back a flood of tears as he pressed a tender kiss to the top of her head.

"I love you daddy." He heard her whisper. His children were truly his life, and he had been blessed every day since they had been born to have them in his life.

"I love you too, sweet pea." He murmured against her hair, and held her for another moment before letting her go to help the others finish getting the pod ready to leave. He watched her walk over to her brother, and watched as Monroe wrapped an arm around her shoulders. When he turned back to Scott, he saw the weirdest expression on his brother's face. "What?" He asked.

"It is just like I am seeing a new side to you." Scott told him. "I mean, just the other morning, you were my younger brother, and now you're still my younger brother, but you're older than me at the same time. And you have kids too." Scott's gaze traveled over to where the next generation of Tracy's could be heard laughing and joking around. "I missed out on seeing all of it, not to mention, having a family of my own."

John laid a hand on his brother's shoulder, and the two shared a moment of silence before Scott spoke again. "Anyways, how were things going?" He asked, returning to the subject of before.

"They were doing alright when I left." He told his brother. "I think they need some time to talk about things." Scott nodded in agreement, having understood what John was trying to say. The two brothers turned to look out the pod to where they had last left their father and Penny. They could not see them beyond the smoking hulking run that was the remains of Penny's home.

"Can we just get out of here already?" A voice exclaimed from behind John, and he turned to face Lily, surprised at the ferocity in her voice. He was surprised that he had not noticed her when he had made his way into the pod.

"What is wrong, Lils?" he asked and watched as JT looked over to them from where he was standing with the others, and made his way over to his sister and set his hand on her shoulder. She sighed as she looked at him, and then turned back to face John.

"I just don't get it. She gave us up all those years ago, and now here we are having saved her. I know saving people is what we do and all, and I've never had a problem with that before now." Lily paused for a moment and looked down. When she looked up again, John could see some vulnerability in her eyes that he was unaccustomed to seeing. "Why now, Johnny? Why did she have to come back into our lives now? Wasn't it enough when she cast us aside before we were even born? Weren't we good enough for her?" She took a deep breath, and all hint of the previous weakness in her disappeared. "I just want to get out of here and go home." She said finally as she moved past John. "Before she has a chance to hurt us again!" John winced slightly as he heard a door on the other side of the pod slam shut, and he turned back to Scott, unsure of what to say.

TB25TB25TB25

John looked at his father as they loaded the two crafts up again to head back towards the island a couple of hours later. Jeff had been gone a long time, talking to Penny, and he could only hope that they had talked through everything. He would never know what was said, but if he were going by the look on his father's face, it was as settled as it would ever be.

"Let's get out of here." He said, his voice despondent as he looked down at his shoes, refusing to meet anyone's gaze.

"Get us out of here, son." John said into his watch once they boarded the giant green Thunderbird.

"F.A.B." Monroe said. "Lifting off now."

The flight back to the island was a quiet one, everyone lost in their thoughts, and so it was a surprise when Virgil called back to them that they were on final approach to the island. Where had the time gone? While he was in the midst of his thoughts, they had landed, and his father had slipped from the Bird and headed in the direction of the lifts to head back up to his office.

When John finally reached the office, he saw his father talking to Fermat.

"…leave as soon as possible."

"Understood, Mr. Tracy. Everything is ready to go when you're ready." Fermat made a quick exit after that, leaving Jeff and John alone in the room together. John felt like he had been punched in the chest as he stood there. He had just gotten his family back, and now it seemed like he was going to lose them all over again.

"Leaving already, dad?" He asked. He could not hide the pain in his voice. Jeff turned to face him, and John gasped at the pain on his father's face.

"I have to go back John. I need to be able to fight for her." John didn't even have to ask who his father meant.

"I know. I just hoped that I might have you around a little bit longer before you left. I can never tell you exactly how much I missed you when you weren't here." He lowered his head to try and hide the tears that seemed once more were beginning to fill his eyes. He was really starting to get tired of crying. Of course, with his head down, he didn't see the look cross his father's face, so he was really surprised when he was pulled into his arms.

"Oh Johnny." Jeff said. "I also have to go back for you. You deserve so much more than the life you were dealt. You never should have been forced to live the way you did." John said nothing, just holding his dad close, letting his tears loose in the safety of the embrace.

"I love you dad." He whispered.

"I love you too son." Jeff answered back.

In no time at all, John was watching his family prepare to leave once more. He watched as Tin-Tin clung to Alan, not wanting to let him go. Alan rubbed her back gently until she finally let him go with a sob.

"I love you, Tin-Tin Kyrano Tracy." He told her, cupping her face.

"And I love you, Alan Shepard Tracy." She said through her tears. Al and Lucy came up on either side of her, and John saw Alan smile sadly as he looked at his children.

"Take care of your mother for me. I love you both." Lucy threw herself into Alan's arms. "We will." He rubbed her back as he clasped hands with his namesake. Stepping away from them, he turned and made his way down his chute before he could talk himself out of it. Scott, Gordon, and Virgil quickly followed until it was just John and Jeff standing there.

"I'll miss you dad. I love you." John said, tears falling.

"I love you too son." Jeff told him. "See you in a little while." He turned to make his way over to his chute, and disappeared out of sight. John saw Al and Lucy lead Tin-Tin out of the room as he sat back down at his desk.

"Thunderbird Three, you are cleared for launch." He spoke into the comm.

"F.A.B. son, wish us luck." Jeff said. "Main engine ignite and we have lift off."

John's watery gaze watched as Thunderbird Three ascended into the sky and disappeared out of sight.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** Well, here it is the first part of the epilogue to our story. I have had a blast writing this, and I hope all of you have enjoyed reading it. I want to take this final chance and say thank you to all the awesome reviews I have gotten, and I hope if I decide to write another story sometime in the future, you guys will still be there to give me pep talks and let me know where you hope the story will go. But until then, this is Dasha Hashiba signing off.

Yes, I know I don't own the guys, but I do play with them in my spare time.

TB25TB25

It was amazing how much things could change over the course of a person's life, but then at the same time, it was amazing how also some things never seemed to change, always remaining a constant in a person's life. And that was true for John Tracy. His family was always a constant in his life. No matter what seemed to happen, they were always there, supporting him. No matter what would happen, he knew that they were there for him, whether it were by vidcomm when he was working, or whether the contact were in person, as it was for him now.

John sighed and looked down at the cast surrounding his left leg. Oh yes, this truly hadn't been in the plans for him, but when did life ever fully conform to plan for a Tracy? He had broken it a few days earlier while he had been stationed up on Thunderbird Five. The nature of how it had been broken was something that he had been unwilling to share with his brothers. His knew that he would never hear the end of it from them. And in his defense, it was something that he had done a thousand times before and had never had any sort of trouble. But, it only took one time for that to change. At least, that was what his father always said.

_He had been returning to the command area of his craft after running to his room to grab a book that he was close to finishing. He had only a few pages left and he wanted to finish it. He had just returned to Thunderbird Five after spending some time with his family for the holidays. He had taken full advantage of the time and had spent some quality time with each of his brothers, something that he couldn't do too often when he spent most of his time on the station. But this year had been good, and he felt like he had gotten even closer with them. So it had been after new years was over, and the festivities of his father's birthday, he had packed up all his belongings and made the long trek up to Thunderbird Five._

_His father and brother Virgil had just been loading themselves back into Thunderbird Three, and John had run to his stateroom to grab the book he had been reading. He had not fully been paying attention, his nose in his book, and had misjudged the distance to his chair. He could still hear the crack as his shin collided very hard with the metal of the seat, and the overwhelming pain as he immediately collapsed. It was a pain that almost made him black out from the intensity. As it was, he was sure he had lost a period of a few minutes there as he had laid there in agony. He could not remember until he opened his eyes to see his brother Virgil standing over him, and his father right behind him. _

"_Well John." His brother had said as he had used what meager first aid supplies Thunderbird Five carried. "If you wanted your vacation to last a little bit longer, all you had to do was say so. You didn't have to go to the extreme of breaking your leg to do it." While Virgil's face was serious as he worked to immobilize John's leg, he could hear the teasing tone that he used._

"_Alright you two." John heard his father say. "Virgil, is John patched up enough to fly?"_

"_He should be." Virgil said. "I just want to make sure that his leg is strapped in enough that it won't jostle as we fly back to base. The splints that I have around it are rudimentary at best. I just don't want John to become more injured." He shot his brother a look, and John could see the concern and apprehension in his next youngest brother's eyes. Virgil really took his brothers' health and safety seriously and it really bothered him when they were hurt and or injured. John knew that he would pay extra special attention on him as they made their journey back to the island._

"_Well then," Jeff said, standing up and making his way over to the control center. "Guess it is time to put this baby back on automated control and forward all the calls down to base until we can get one of your brothers back up here." John had been starting to doze at this point, the pain meds that Virgil had given him starting to make him drowsy._

"_John," His father said to him gently. "Gotta move." And he grabbed him under the arm to help try and pull him up onto his one good foot. His memories were suddenly throw back to the last time he had been in this sort of situation, but that time, it had been his right arm that had been injured, and things had been so much bleaker then. John felt something rise in his throat. It had been three years since the Hood's attack on Thunderbird Five, but he knew he would never forget it._

_He stumbled slightly, and felt his father's grip tighten on his arm slightly before putting it over his shoulders with a murmured "I've got you son." He could sense Virgil coming over to help after grabbed John's bag that still lay on his bunk._

"_Okay dad, let's get John home." He said before taking John's other arm and slowly helping him back towards the docking arm and Thunderbird Three. John must have dozed at some point during the flight, as the next thing he remembered was waking up in the sickbay on the island, the cast around his leg._

He was brought out of his musings by a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up into Scott's worried face. He could see Virgil right behind him with the same look, and he sighed to himself.

"Morning guys, what's up?" He asked with a cheerful tone to his voice.

"You okay Johnny?" Scott asked him. "I tried talking to you and you weren't answering me." Oh yeah, big brother was in full mode now. He was in for it.

"I'm fine." He replied, stressing both words. "Just lost in thought, I guess."

"How long have you been sitting there and how exactly were you able to do it?" Uh oh, now Virgil was at it. He sighed to himself again and silently reminded himself to keep calm.

"Been here about twenty minutes or so, Virge. Don't worry, Ohana said that if I needed her, to just call for her and she would come and help. As for how I got here…" He pointed to the pair of crutches leaning against the wall. "You gave me those after I woke up yesterday, remember?"

He watched Virgil's face tinge red in embarrassment, and he knew that his brother had forgotten. "Oh yeah." He heard him mumble to himself.

It was just at that moment that their father walked in, and John sighed in relief that all of Scott and Virgil's worrying would cease. His father was followed in moments later by the dastardly duo, otherwise known as Gordon and Alan. Gordon had a look of pure mischief on his face, and his silently pitied whichever of the brothers that had caught his sights today. They all settled down to breakfast, and the room was silent until…

"So Johnny, how did you break your leg?" He cursed silently and then looked over at Gordon's grinning face. Crap! He should have known that his brother wouldn't have been able to resist teasing him for long.

"Never mind Gordo." He said, continuing to silently eat his breakfast. But he knew that this would not deter his brother. If anything, it would make him even more determined to find out.

"I know!" Broke in Alan, getting his own comment in. "Johnny ran into the console to get to the stars. They're practically his mistress after all!" The two brothers broke into laughter, quickly followed by Scott and Virgil, and John shook his head at them. Yes, it was true that he loved the stars, but they were not his mistress. What his family did not know was that he had someone very special in his life; someone who knew all about his work with International Rescue, and had held the secret from the very beginning. He smiled when he thought about the time that they had spent together during the week between the holidays. She truly completed him, and he knew that he could not imagine his life without her, and he was even making plans to make sure that he had her forever. He remembered saying something to her along those very lines as they had been curled up on the couch together watching television.

"_If I were to ask you to marry me, what would you say?" He asked her softly. His time with her was almost over and soon he would have to leave to get back to Tracy Island._

_Sarah looked up at him from where she rested against his chest. He could read shock and surprise on her face. He knew that Sarah Robinson had loved him since their days at NASA together, and his feelings for her were just as strong. She was the perfect girl for him, and he wanted her to know it._

"_I would say 'yes'." She told him without hesitation. "John, I have loved you for such a long time, and nothing would make me happier than to be your wife." She leaned up and kissed him softly, and he closed his eyes, holding her against him, letting the feeling of her in his arms sink deep into his memory to get him through all the time they would have to be apart._

"_Sarah Tracy." She said, laying her head back against his chest. He pressed a tender kiss into her hair. "Mrs. Sarah Tracy. Mrs. John Glenn Tracy." She sighed in happiness. "I love the sound of that."_

"_As do I." He told her as he looked down at her with all the love that he felt in his heart and soul for her. "I love you Sarah." He whispered against her lips._

"_I love you John." She whispered back and kissed him. All too soon however, it was time for John to leave, and he could not seem to let Sarah out of his arms. He could feel her fingers knotted against his back and knew that she felt the same way._

"_When will I see you again?" She whispered against his chest, and he closed his eyes against the pain rushing through him at the thought of leaving her again. He was sure that he could feel his shirt going damp from where her face rested against it, and he knew that he would not be able to leave if she were crying. Seeing Sarah cry was one thing he had never been able to stand._

"_Hey," He said and pulled her face up to his. He felt a punch in the gut as he realized that she had been crying, and he cupped her face, using his thumbs to wipe away her tears. "Please don't cry sweetheart. You know I hate it when you cry. How about this?" He said getting a sudden idea. "How about I come back later tonight and you and I can watch the ball drop on TV, okay?" He saw the small smile touch her lips and she nodded her head 'yes'. And he did go back that night after telling his father that he was going to hang out with some of his old NASA buddies._

_As the ball dropped to signal in a new year, John Glenn Tracy dropped to one knee in front of Sarah Madison Robinson and promised her a lifetime of love and happiness in exchange for becoming his wife. And in the last few seconds of the year, she dropped to her knees as well and whispered her response "yes" against his lips, kissing him as a new year ahead was celebrated._

As John came out of his happy memories, he could hear Gordon and Alan laughing at some of the more outrageous ideas that they were coming up with as to how he had broken his leg. He raised his eyebrows as he heard the last one that Alan had come up with.

"Bungee jumping? Come on Sprout. Don't you think that is a little far fetched?"

Just as Alan would have responded, they were silenced by their father's phone ringing. But it wasn't just any phone. No, this was his rescues phone, and it only rang when there was a rescue for them. Jeff excused himself to take the call, and the five brothers sat in silence, waiting. How bad would the rescue be this time?

Fortunately, or unfortunately if you preferred, they didn't have to wait very long. Within minutes their father was back, and John tried to read the expression on his face. However, Jeff was almost expressionless, so John couldn't tell.

"Boys, let's go." He said as he set the phone down on the table. John watched as his four brothers immediately got up from the table and made a beeline for their father's office while John tried to reach for the crutches leaning against the wall. He could see his father watching him out of the corner of his eye, and he stretched desperately to reach them. There was movement just out of his sight, and then his father was there, holding the crutches for him. Mentally John told himself that he knew he could have done it alone, but he was thankful his father had helped. He shot him a thankful smile and hobbled off to the office to join his brothers.

"Here are the facts." Jeff said as he entered the room. "NASA has requested our help. They have some astronauts stranded up in space. We have been asked to go up and rescue them."

"Where exactly are they dad?" John asked. This rescue really had his attention.

"They are doing some work on the old Hubble telescope." Jeff replied and John nodded.

"I am going to need you all on this one." John saw him brothers nod and he looked down dejectedly at his cast. Jeff must have noticed because John saw him head over to where he was sitting.

"John, I wish that you could come with us, but unfortunately with that cast, you can't. I need you to be here and be out eyes and ears." John nodded by mentally he was fuming. He was always being left behind. 'Oh, how original. Be the eyes and ears. Not like I don't do that already! Just now, I'm on the ground and not up in space.'

"F.A.B. dad."

"Okay guys," Jeff said to his other sons. "Thunderbirds Are Go!"

As the others rushed for their shoots and down to Thunderbird Three, John made his way over to the desk and sat down with a huff. He really truly hated this; being left behind all the time. He really wished that he were able to go on the rescue, but he was stranded at base.

"Thunderbird Three to base." His father's voice startled him. John flipped the switch to open the channel.

"Thunderbird Three, this is base. Reading you loud and clear."

"Do we have permission to launch, John?" His father asked.

John quickly checked the radar. He was beginning to be able to feel the vibrations under his foot as the mighty craft powered up in preparation for launch.

"That is affirm, Thunderbird Three." John reported. He suddenly got a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach as the vibrations got stronger. He couldn't explain why he was feeling this way. It was almost a feeling of… dread. Dread for what? The rescue that his family was about to go on? He got the weirdest urge to yell to his family to not go, to just stay home and let NASA deal with their own problem, but he kept his mouth shut. If he said anything, he would be asked questions that he knew he didn't have the answers for.

"Be careful guys." He said softly, sure that his father would not be able to hear him.

"Don't worry son, we will." His father replied, startling him.

The vibrations reached a crescendo as the mighty engines lifted the powerful craft up out of its silo, and John watched on the monitor as it disappeared into the vastness of the sky. He had no idea how long he sat there, just staring into the monitor, just hoping for something. He had not been able to shake the feeling that something was going to happen, and he would be able to do nothing to stop it.

"Thunderbird Three to base, do you copy?" The sound of his father's voice in the silence of the room made him jump, and he looked around for movement. "Base, do you copy?" John could hear a hint of a frantic tone in his father's voice, and he quickly responded.

"Thunderbird Three, this is base, I read you. How are things so far?" John responded.

"Base, we are approaching the coordinates of the stranded astronauts-" The transmission cut off in a wave of static.

"Thunderbird Three, repeat last transmission." He called out and heard nothing but static. "Thunderbird Three, come in!" He tried again with no success, even going so far as to remodulate the frequencies to see if that would allow him to re-obtain contact. However, nothing that he did was successful. Finally he just gave up and dropped his head into his hands. The feeling of dread that he had felt earlier had gotten stronger, and he felt tears pool in his eyes. He just HAD to believe that his family was okay. They had to be! Something had just happened to Three's radio, and so they couldn't contact base. Yes, that was what had happened. Quickly his fingers started flying on the keyboard, trying to patch in to NASA's signal. After a few moments, he was rewarded.

"… is there. Can't seem to initiate contact. This ship is just floating. Not seeing any sort of movement. Houston, what should we do?"

Wait, Thunderbird Three was still up there? Of course it would be. He felt a little bit of relief at that. 'Come on guys.' He thought to himself.

"Houston, please advise." The astronaut said once more.

"Olympia, try and see if you can find a way to establish some sort of communication with the International Rescue craft. In the mean time-"

"Houston, the craft is moving towards us! I repeat, the Thunderbird craft is moving towards us!" John could hear the excitement in the man's voice, and a wave of relief moved through him. He sat back and wiped the tears from his eyes. There was silence for about twenty minutes from the radio, and then a voice came over.

"NASA, this is the Thunderbird Commander." John had never been so happy to hear his father's voice in his life. "Our craft has suffered a blow to almost all of our major systems, our radio included. But we are still prepared to rescue the stranded astronauts."

"That is a negative commander. We are launching a craft at this very moment to retrieve the astronauts. Will you need any assistance in returning your craft to your base?" John listening intently for his father's answer.

"That is a negative as well, Houston. I believe we can handle that one ourselves. We will wait here until your craft arrives, however."

"Understood Commander, and we thank you." Houston replied. The radio fell silent once more, and John switched it off. His family was okay, and soon they would be heading home john sent up a silent prayer to whoever was watching over the family that they would return home in one piece, and that he had not lost his family this day.

He must have fallen asleep at some point, being the next thing he remembered was feeling the vibrations of Thunderbird Three as she approached the island. He stood up, feeling anxious. He needed to see his family to make sure they were alright. His dad was first to appear from the silos into the office, and John rushed over to him and pulled him into a hug. He could feel the tears flooding his eyes as Jeff wrapped his arms around him in response. It took John a little while before he realized that his father was saying something.

"We're home Johnny, we're safe. Everything is okay." John clung to his father just a little bit tighter for a moment. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he had a brief thought that one of his brothers might have been trying to pull him away from his father. But as he felt another join them, followed by three more, he realized that they were joining him. The Tracy men drew strength from one another just as they had always done, and would always do in the future.


	8. Chapter 8

~TWENTY FIVE YEARS LATER~

If there was one thing that always remained a constant, it was that Tracy Family celebrations were always a very loud and rambunctious time. Of course, the mere size of the family could also factor into that, John mused to himself. And, of course, it always seemed to be getting bigger.

From his vantage point he could watch his family and celebrate the fact that they were all here together. The past year had not been too kind to them. Nine months previous, Jefferson Tracy had suffered a major heart attack. It had been touch and go for a while, and at one point, there had been serious worry that he might not make it. But with the love and support of his family, he was on the road to recovery. John watched with a smile as his father grabbed Penny and kissed her deeply. Oh yes, she was another reason for his father's fight to get better.

John remembered when his father had found out that he was going to be a father again. He would never forget the shocked look on Jeff's face. For a moment, John thought he might fate, but Jeff had somehow held it together. He remembered the meeting that his father had called later.

"_Boys," He said. "There is something that I wish to discuss with you. I have been alone for a very long time now. Your mother was taken from us much too soon, and I have felt that loss deeply. I always told myself that I would never love again; that I had found and lost the great love of my life, and would never find her equal again. But I find now that I was wrong." John felt his gaze as he turned to look at each of his sons._

"_Dad, does this have anything to do with whatever Penny wanted to talk to you about earlier?" Virgil asked._

"_Yes Virgil, it does." He said truthfully. "Penny informed me that she is pregnant." There was silence in the room._

"_And you are?" Scott's voice was calm._

"_Yes, I am the father of her child."_

"_How long?" Alan asked._

_His father looked down at the desk. For an instant, John thought his father would not answer. Finally he did. "She is due in July. Do not get me wrong, I will always love your mother. She gave me five precious gifts, but I wish for something more than just memories. I want to be truthful with you. For a long time, I told myself that I didn't need anyone special in my life to share it with. I had the love of my children. But I have been lying to myself." He came around his desk and moved to sit over where his sons were sitting. "Over the past year, I have found myself falling in love with Penelope boys. She has been like a burst of sunlight to me, and she has reminded me what it is like to love someone with my whole heart." John could see how much Penny meant to him just by the way his father was talking._

"_What are you trying to get at dad?" Scott asked._

_Jeff looked at his eldest, as if trying to read the expression on his face. "I would like your blessings to ask Penny to marry me."_

_Nearly as soon as the words were out of Jeff's mouth, Scott stood up and stormed out of the room. Jeff watched him go with a distraught look on his face._

"_Do you love her dad?" Gordon's voice was unusually serious._

"_Yes Gordon, I do. Very much." Gordon seemed to ponder this for great moments. Finally his trademark grin broke out over his face and he got up, going over to his father._

"_My answer is yes. You have my blessings." He leaned down to hug his father._

"_Thank you Gordon."_

"_My answer is yes as well." Alan also got up to join his father and brother._

"_Thank you son." Jeff said as he pulled into his arms._

"_Just think." Alan said from his father's embrace. "I won't be the youngest anymore!" That drew a laugh from everyone in the room._

"_You'll always be the youngest of us, Sprout." Gordon told him, musing his hair._

"_Darn." Alan muttered._

_All this time, John had been watching his father. Being up on Thunderbird Five most of the year caused John to miss out on a lot that happened here at home, but it also caused him to have a unique view on a lot of things. He had had a feeling some months ago about his father and a certain member of the English nobility. In the beginning, it had bothered him, thinking that his father could have possibly fallen in love again. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that his father, just like everyone else in the world, deserved to be happy. And if Lady Penelope was the one that made him happy, then John would do nothing to stand in the way of that._

"_My answer is yes as well, dad." John stood up and walked over to hug his father._

"_Thank you so much John." His father whispered in his ear._

"_I just want you to be happy dad." He whispered back._

_All this time, Virgil had sat and watched them. Virgil had sat and watched them. Virgil had always been very close with their mother, and as John turned to face him, and read the expression on his face, he truly wondered what his brother would say. Would he be the first to deny his father his blessings?_

_Jeff also looked to where his second eldest's gaze had turned, and he felt a twinge of fear. Virgil sat unmoving in his chair as he watched them, a blank look on his face. He pulled away from John and took a step towards his middle child._

"_Son?" He said hesitantly._

_Virgil looked at him, a flash of something crossing his face, before he got up without a word and left the room. John watched him leave, and then turned to watch his father drop to the chair, a spasm of pain crossing his face. Before John's eyes, Jeff Tracy seemed to age at least twenty years._

"_Gordo, Allie, can you give us some alone time, please?" John spoke softly. He looked over and caught Gordon's gaze and read understanding in the green depths. He had witnessed Virgil's abrupt departure from the room and now understood that John wanted to talk to their father alone._

"_Sure Johnny." Gordon responded just as softly, and led Alan from the room._

_Once the room was empty, john quickly made his way over to his father and settled down beside him. At this close proximity now, he could hear something coming from his father that he had only heard two other times in his life; his father crying. And not just little sniffles either. The other man's shoulders were shaking from the ferocity of his sobs. John cautiously placed his arm over his father's shoulders and pulled him against his body._

"_What was so wrong about this John?" His father's voice was nothing more than a hoarse whisper. "Do they not want me to be happy?"_

"_I don't know dad." John told him. And that was the truth._

"_I will always love your mother." He continued to sob. "But I don't want to be along anymore. It hurts."_

_John felt tears prick at his eyes. The pain in his father's voice was hard to ignore. He just wished his older and first younger brothers could hear this, to know how much their reactions hurt their father. But he had a feeling that right now, they would not want to hear anything he had to say. So he was the one who was witness to his father's tears. He looked down at his father, who was lying quietly against his shoulder, his tears silenced for now. He heard long, deep easy breathing emanate from the older man, and he realized that he had fallen asleep. Laying him down gently, John covered him with a blanket and slipped from the room. He met Gordon and Alan just as he was closing the door._

"_How is he?" Gordon asked, his voice still subdued._

_John looked through the doorway to where he could see his father sleeping and then back to his two youngest siblings._

"_Sleeping for now, but Scott and Virgil's reactions really bothered him." He needed to find his two siblings and figure out what was going on with them._

_Gordon nodded. "We'll watch over dad."_

_It took him the better part of two days, but he was finally able to sit his older brother down. For the most part, Scott glared at him and did the no talking thing, but John was determined to find out the answer as to why Scott had reacted the way he had. Finally he was able to get it out of him._

"_I don't want him to forget mom!" He exploded._

_John nodded to himself. That was the answer he had been expecting. "But Scott," He said. "He will never forget mom. He will always have the memories of the time that he had with her. But don't you think he deserves to have more in his life than just memories?"_

_Scott nodded after a minute. "I suppose you're right." He looked at John. "Penny will be good for him." John was sure the relief showed on his face, but Scott said nothing about it. One down, one to go. He could only hope his other brother were this easy to convince._

"_I'll talk to Virge for you." Scott mentioned as they stood up he clapped John on the shoulder. "And then he and I will go and talk to dad together."_

"_Thanks Scott." He said as he watched him go and try and track down their middle brother._

_Whatever he said to Virgil had done the trick, 'cause a few days later, they had gone to talk to their father together to give him the good news. Jon had not been witness to the meeting, as he had already returned to space, but later that night, John had received a call from his father._

"_Thank you John, for whatever you said to them." He could see the lightheartedness that was coming from the older man, and he could not help but smile._

_So it was on a sunny day only a month later, prophetically Valentines Day that Jefferson Grant Tracy and Penelope Marie Creighton Ward were married in a quiet tiny romantic ceremony on the beach of Tracy Island with family and friends as witnesses. He could remember hearing Penny's ever faithful butler, Parker sniffling all through the entire ceremony. Penny had looked radiant as she walked down the aisle on Scott's arm, dressed in a simple white dress, her feet bare, her baby bump visible under her dress. She had chosen Tin-Tin as her only attendant, and the younger girl had been dressed in a simple pale pink dress._

_His father had been dressed simply as well, in a pair of khaki pants and a white button down shirt, his feet also bare. He had chosen John as his only attendant, which had surprised John. He had been so sure that his father would choose Scott. But when he had asked, the answer had been simple. "You miss so much down here John, being up on Thunderbird Five all the time. You give so much and never ask for anything in return. I want to give this to you." John had been so shocked and touched by it that he had quickly agreed. It had been the perfect day with the whole family there to enjoy it. They would all be called together one again months later when Penny Tracy would go into labor. It took eighteen hours before she safely delivered twins Lily and JT. Of course, they would not be the only children that Jeff and Penny would be blessed with. Three more children would follow; Mitchell Jonathan Tracy, Rachel Penelope Tracy, and Brady Kingston Tracy._

_Of course, Jeff and Penny were not the only ones that found love. On April 3, John married the love of his life, Sarah, and they started off their lives together. They would welcome twins Monroe and Madison into the world on January 2, sharing their birthday with their grandpa. Tin-Tin and Alan would also be blessed with children, as Alan Jr. and Lucy would make their ways into the world screaming on August 21._

_Scott would meet the love of his life, Alyssa Conrad in the most simple of ways; running onto her in a grocery store. Their path would be a long one, but finally they were able to make their way down the aisle together. Their journey to become parents would be a long battle full of pain and sadness, but finally after five years of trying, they would welcome a son, Grant Charles Tracy into the world. After Alyssa almost died bringing their son into the world, they agreed that they would have no more._

_For Virgil, the woman who would be his wife, made her reappearance into his life at a class reunion he attended back in Kansas. Molly Kusher had been a girl that he had always shared the majority of his classes with, but never really had spoken to. She was the shyest girl in school, and never seemed to talk much. But at the class reunion, she approached him to say thank you for always noticing she was there and saying 'hi' even when he knew that she probably would say nothing back. Their romance was like a whirlwind, and it was only two short months after that faithful class reunion that they were married, their first child, Conner Sebastian Tracy following just fourteen months after their wedding. A second son, Nicholas Alexander Tracy would be born twenty three months after his brother._

_Gordon's path to love was one that almost didn't happen. He had been asked to go back to the hospital where he had been taken so many years previous after his hydrofoil accident. He was to talk about his own experiences during those trying time, and how the staff at the hospital had helped him to overcome the odds, and how he had gone on to win a gold medal at the Olympics. On the day of the speech, he had run into very congested traffic and nearly didn't make it in time. Thankfully he did, and that was where he met Abigail Wallace. She was a patient at the hospital recovering from a broken back which she had gotten while rock climbing. Slowly the two became friends, and months later, they starting dating. When Gordon finally worked up the nerve to propose to Abby, he surprised her by doing it from the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and then by eloping with her, neither one really caring about having a big fancy ceremony. Their son, Patrick Alan Tracy would enter the world ten months later._

John was marred out of his thoughts by a tidal wave of water, and he looked around startled to see that the big kids had started a cannonball contest in the pool. Of course, the one thing that did not surprise him was that it seemed that his brother Gordon seemed to be the one that had started it, but he was being quickly followed by JT, Al, Roe, and Mitch. It was obvious to John that his brother would never completely grow up.

"You look like you've been lost in thought over here." A voice murmured into his ear as two arms wrapped around his neck. He smiled as he looked up into the loving arms of his wife.

"Just reliving some memories." He told her, pulling her down to sit on his lap.

"Anything good?" Sarah asked, settling herself down onto the chair next to him.

"Was thinking about them." He said, gesturing towards his family. "Just thinking about how much has changed over the years."

Whatever Sarah might have said in response, John would never know. For at that moment, JT called out to his sister from the depths of the pool where he was having a dunking contest with the other boys.

"Hey Lils, you made it!" He was forced back under the water by a shove from Al.

"Of course, I wouldn't have missed this." She told her brother as she made her way over to where their parents were sitting.

"We've missed you sweetheart." Penny said, wrapping her first born daughter up in a hug. "It's been too long since you've been home. And you've definitely gotten bigger." She said while rubbing the giant belly that protruded between them. While at college, Lily had met Adrian St. Jacobs, and the two had fallen hard for each other. They had dated all through college, and then after they graduated, Adrian had approached Jeff and Penny and asked for Lily's had in marriage. They had given their approval, and Adrian had popped the question to Lily. They had had a small wedding ceremony on the beach as had her parents before her, and they were all excited to start their lives together; until Jeff's heart attack put a damper on that. She immediately flew back to the island to be there for her dad, and it was during all of this that she learned she was pregnant. She was now due any day now.

"Yeah well, been feeling too uncomfortable to fly lately." She rubbed at her belly. "I just wish that little Colby would decide to come out. I hate feeling like a whale."

"You look beautiful baby." Adrian said as he kissed the side of her face.

"Smart man." Jeff said from his chair. Lily leaned down to give her dad a hug and hissed as she came back up. "What is it?" He asked, eyes narrowing.

"Have you been taking it easy?" Maddie said as she approached Lily. Maddie had gone into medicine after she graduated from high school and she had just earned her registered nurse's license.

"It's my back." Lily told them. "I've been having pains all day. I tried taking something for it earlier, but nothing seems to be working." She shot Adrian a grateful look over her shoulder as he started massaging her lower back, but then froze as she felt something trickling down her legs.

"What is it?" Jeff asked, seeing the look on his daughter's face.

"Either I have just peed myself, or my water just broke." Lily told him. In an instant, the pool area was a flurry of activity. Every thing was packed up and put away as Lily was hustled down to the infirmary, as she had said before that she wanted to have her baby on the island.

John watched the pandemonium from where he sat, and a smile made its way across his face. There was only one thing to say, and he knew it would be perfect.

"Thunderbirds Are Go!"


	9. Author's Note

**Wow, it seems like forever since I have posted anything! I want you guys to know that I have not dropped off the face of the planet, I have just been dealing with some horrible writers block, and I am trying to work through it. I have bits and pieces of stories written which I am trying to get ready to post on here, but it is just a matter of time before I am able to post the stories that I am currently working on. I promise you they will be worth the wait!**

**As for this story, I was finally able to go through and edit all the chapters, plus add a good amount to chapter six. I was very unhappy with it when I first wrote it, and so now I hope that it is much better. I must say that I am happy with it. So take a gander at it and tell me what you think ^.^ I look forward to your reviews!**

**~Raina**


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